Come Morning Light
by SharkbaitSekki
Summary: Life seemed to cease at the moment of the explosion, but then there was quiet whimpering in the air and the feeling of warm bodies pressed against each other and the horrifying stench of terror that was tided over by the sight of each other, by the sight of all of them, still alive and breathing despite the horrors of this world on fire. Apocalypticverse survival, Karasuno family.
1. Midnight

**Author's Note**

**Not really a songfic (of "Safe and Sound", performed by Taylor Swift). I just wanted to indulge in some nice Karasuno family apocalyptic survival world AU stuff. **

**Can be a oneshot, but I'm pretty sure I'll keep writing for it. Me likey la familia de Karasuno. And nuclear apocalypses. **

**(Might evolve into a zombie apocalypse later? IDK, we'll see).**

**No ships, really, except maybe hinted KageHina in this first chapter. There isn't gonna be any overt romance in this story because I want to investigate family dynamics and individual characterizations. Oh, and I know this is a lot of Hinata-centric stuff right here, but the POV will probably cycle. Or at least, everybody will get their time in the spotlight somehow. **

**Warnings: Violence, minor character death, swearing, blood, medical things... **

**Things there WILL NOT BE at ANY point in the fic: Major character death, permanent disability, unnecessarily gory scenes. **

**Because I'm too much of a sap to write those. **

**Please enjoy our lovely crow family!**

* * *

><p><em>"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down."<em>

But the sunset was blazing a violent, bloody red, the sun hidden behind all the smoke pervading the air. Were he to close his eyes now, he'd lose the only light left in this godforsaken world.

_"You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now."_

He wanted to believe her, pressed his ear to the closed door, desperately hanging onto every word that gently fell from her lips, her soothing voice weaving a lullaby that was nursing the cries of the little girl in the room. He wanted to believe her because there was nothing else he could believe in now.

_"Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound."_

He leaned away from the door, and put his back against the wall, hugging his knees and burying his face in them until fireworks exploded behind his eyelids. In the room, his mother was humming, and his sister's crying had finally gone silent.

He wanted to cry as well. He wanted to be held and to be rocked to sleep to the sound of his mother's soothing voice. Even if it was trembling minutely, even when he heard her weary sigh and the bed creak as she got up to leave, even when she cracked the door open and looked down, her sunken gaze falling onto her precious, innocent son curled up against the wall, and even when she sat down next to him and gathered him in her arms, he wanted nothing more than to be told that he would be alright.

"Come morning light," his mother assured him in a breathy whisper, her words falling an ounce of conviction flat away from being a promise.

And more than anything, Hinata realized, he wanted to believe her.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Hinata woke up to a loud noise booming in the distance. Groggily sitting up in his bed, he turned his eyes to the window, faint light filtering through the shutters.

Something welled up inside of him and he got out of bed, stumbling towards the window in mild disbelief. The morning light. His mother had promised. She'd promised that they'd be safe and sound.

Hinata opened the shutters, and his breath flew out of his body as if an explosion had rocked his entire system.

The night was alight with fire in the distance. In front of his very eyes, to another booming noise, closer this time, another pyre lit up spontaneously. And again, much closer, he recognized the train station in the distance going up in flames, momentarily blinding him. He shielded his eyes, throat dry, and his ears picked up the sound of an engine overhead.

Oh.

And he felt strangely at peace.

The next booming noise, close enough to make Hinata's head ring, preceded the light from a split-second. And Hinata stared in morbid fascination as the neighbourhood exploded, the blinding light rushing to end it for him as well.

He stared at the fiery inferno as it consumed everything, barely even felt the heat rushing against the window and shattering it, barely even felt himself be pushed and hit something solid, barely even heard the screams inside and outside the house, barely even heard the house creak and crumble and give in, barely even felt himself falling, and he closed his eyes.

He'd never see the morning light, perhaps, but at least now, he was safe and sound.

...-...-...-..-...-...-...

The morning light reflected off his hair, greasy and dirty and matted with dust and blood and dirt, and yet it felt strange to feel the sun's warmth caressing his cheeks. There were no sounds, not even the sound of voices, nothing but the comforting crackling of a fire somewhere around him. For a moment, Hinata did not even feel alive.

And then, there was pain. Even before his vision flooded with light, his entire world went red with pain. And yet there was a weight on his chest, and the sobs that wanted to tear out of his mouth were caught underneath what he realized was a wooden beam sitting on top of him.

Hinata whimpered, finally having enough sense to look around him. He was lying uncomfortably on rubble, bricks and wood digging painfully in his back. He couldn't see anything past his chest, the wooden beam trapping him limiting his vision. He moved his arms experimentally, crying out softly when pain shot up his spine at the movement. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken. Or if they was, Hinata was too confused to realize it.

The blood on his hands was slippery as he tried to push the beam off of himself. It was thick and heavy and after several tries, Hinata felt like conceding. But then, if he gave up... he wouldn't be safe. His mother had promised that come morning light...

His mother... Natsu...

"Mom?" he cried out weakly, struggling to push again. The beam creaked, and hope welled up inside of him. Holding his breath, he pushed harder, arms straining painfully until the beam budged a centimetre above him, and it was enough. Hinata slid himself carefully, the rubble tearing his back to pieces, arms trembling with the effort it took to hold the beam up until his head was out of the way. And then he let go, the beam falling back with a soft thud into the dirt. A cloud of dust stung Hinata's eyes, and he coughed, ribs aching at the action. He gave himself a moment of respite, waiting for the dust to settle, before sitting up.

He was mostly cut up and bruised, aching all over, and he finally took a breath as deep as the sharp pain in his ribs would let him, realizing that the blast must have thrown him under his desk or bed, and the furniture had taken the brunt of the collapse until it had given way and had gotten Hinata stuck under the beam.

But then, what about his family?

"Mom?" he called softly, trembling as he tried to stand. It took him a few tries, but once he did, he held on to a nearby pipe jutting out of the ground for support, swaying in place. "Natsu?"

Nobody replied. Only the crackling of fire did.

Hinata looked around him, and did not know how to react to the sight of his entire neighbourhood flattened, piles of flaming rubble marking places where lives had been built throughout the years. All gone. In the blink of an eye and in the literal heat of the moment. Gone.

And then, he saw it.

A patch of cream amongst the charcoal of his broken home.

And he prayed with unprecedented fervour that it was the remains of the living room couch stuck in between the rubble. A piece of marble counter or the porcelain of the bathtub or anything, anything but the strangely intact wrist and hand and fingers sticking out from under a large pile of smoking rubble, nails so impeccably manicured and limp and lifeless and skin soft, even in death.

Hinata knew this because he caressed the hand, held it reverently with his own calloused, grimy ones, bent to put the palm against his cheek and shivered at how cold and soothing it was on his fevered skin. A mother's touch never failed to comfort the troubled mind.

The early-morning light filtered through the dust floating in the air, breaking through the smoke of the dying fires that had burned so many lives to ashes.

And Hinata screamed.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

They later called this event "The Forty Fireworks", a sickeningly playful term given to such a sickeningly tragic night. Forty towns and cities of Japan, including the capital, seemingly chosen at random, had been reduced to rubble in one night, and millions of people had been killed in the span of a few hours. In the days that followed, over half of the several dozen millions of wounded died as well, from secondary effects of the blast, lack of resources, and environmental destruction. Aid flew in from other countries but the government itself was so torn up that close to none of the donated resources actually were put to use.

And amidst the nation-wide blackouts, the mass exodus towards rural areas and other countries, the power struggle between the military and the government, and of course, the looming threat of more attacks from opposing countries, nobody thought to consider the misery of the individuals who had survived the entire ordeal.

Hinata stayed three days in the rubble of his home. Three days, he laid down by the untimely grave of his mother and sister and watched the sky, listened to the silence of the desolate environment around him and breathed as if it was the only thing he knew to do anymore. Occasionally, he'd blink, but no matter what time of the day it was, there never again felt like there was light.

On the second day, it finally rained, putting out the fires that were dwindling in intensity, and taking away all noise from Hinata's environment. It was strange that the orange-haired boy, all broken up and beaten to his knees, had simply watched the heavens drown out the earthly sorrows, and then had opened his mouth, as if by a mere reflex to stay alive. The dirty, ammonia-filled raindrops soothed his scratched throat as they slid down and kept him alive for another day.

Hinata kept staring and wondered why he was still trying.

On the fourth day, Hinata woke up to the first noise he'd heard since the rainfall. It was the sound of car engines and slamming doors, and immediately, he felt the foreign entities invade what had essentially been a graveyard and sanctuary for him all this time. And just as survival instincts had made him push the beam off, just as they had made him open his mouth for water despite having nothing to live for anymore, they now dictated that he stay where he was and didn't move.

The men had rough voices, perhaps in their middle-aged years, judging by the scratch in their tones. Or perhaps they were thirsty and weary and dead on the inside like everybody else, aged beyond their years.

The thought of young men and women brought a strange burning up into Hinata's throat, and he tried not to think of his friends. His friends, who were probably dead as well. Why was he the only one who was doomed to survive?

He closed his eyes and held his breath as a few of the men walked past what used to be his house. They were discussing something and swearing, complaining about the lack of resources fit for the taking, and Hinata slowly realized that there was no life anymore. There were no more societies and no more communities and only rag-tag bands of scavengers who struggled to survive until they fell over and died. In the span of a single night, a hardened and glorious nation had been wiped out, and its people, or whatever were left of them, had returned to the state of nature.

It was kill or be killed, at this point, and yet, as the footsteps echoed away from his spot, Hinata wished he could find the courage to call them back and ask them to put a bullet in his brain.

But he didn't. And his voice stayed captive in his larynx as the car engines were heard again, and the vehicles sped off. He was amongst the silence again.

And yet it felt wrong. After nearly four days of lying down and letting himself die, it felt wrong now to stand there and do nothing. Hinata had never been the kind to give up, not before, and not now.

His mother would have wanted him to live. She'd have wanted him to fulfill the promise she couldn't. Her hand, now pale and blue and cold and rigidly stuck in the rubble like a morose white flag strung up overhead was a sign that she had given everything to ensure her children's safety. And Hinata couldn't disrespect her sacrifice like that.

"I'm sorry, mom, Natsu," Hinata whispered, throat parched and eyes sunken as he took a whiff of the wet dirt under him one last time before beginning his painstaking ascension. First, he pushed himself up, arms trembling, and then began to stand. His head spun, vision going black, and when it returned to him, it was blurred around the edges. Hinata's hand and legs trembled with the overwhelming weight of the promise he was carrying on his shoulder, and he took a tentative step forward.

The world did not end when he stepped away from his broken life. And so he took another step, and another, passed over the toppled kitchen table, went around the broken living room lamp, climbed over a mess of stone and wooden beams and when he finally stood at the top, he looked back down one last time.

His mother's hand was still there, and Hinata was still alive, and it felt like she was saluting his courage and waving him off on another one of his marvelous adventures.

"Thank you," Hinata whispered, and tore his eyes away, letting the light wash over his broken body before sliding down, towards the street.

He had one last thing to do before he died.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

It was harder than he anticipated. He lived in an area where hills were very steep and rather numerous, and his undernourished, dehydrated, wounded, weakened body could only do so much. He was lucky enough to have found solace in an old, broken corner store, and had drank a warm sports drink that hadn't been scavenged yet off the floor. He spent the night there and set out again in the morning, glad to leave the stench of its old owner's decaying body behind.

He stuck to the alleys, freezing up at the slightest noise, but thankfully did not have any close encounters. Once, he heard a car coming down the street and threw himself flat on the ground, and the car drove right past him. He stayed there for twenty minutes, enjoying the coolness of the stone on his warm face, wondering what it would be like to waste away and die right there, before he stopped entertaining his fantasies and set out again.

It rained again the next night, and Hinata spent it huddling on himself under the holed awning of a fruits and vegetables store closer to the centre of the town. He was getting closer to his goal every day, but his body was letting him down even more every day. He was pretty sure that his cuts had been infected and that he was running a fever, and he probably had a concussion and cracked, if not broken ribs. And most of all, he felt weak and dizzy and ready to fall over and close his eyes and never have to get up again. But he pulled through. On the dawn of the sixth day, he set out, convinced that he would make it to his goal this time. His pace was agonizingly slow, and he had to stop many times, and get sidetracked to find some water before his body gave up entirely, but by the evening of the sixth day since his life crumbled to pieces, Hinata finally saw the light.

Looming at the end of the street was his salvation and his final resting place. The only place where he knew he'd feel safe and happy, and the only place that would soothe him and steal his worries and take away his pain as he laid down and waited with a smile on his face. A cold gust of wind blew, carrying the smell of smoke and decay with it, and Hinata shuddered, clutching his sweater's hood over his matted hair and quickening his pace. He couldn't wait to die.

Karasuno High was slightly beaten up, dark and windows broken, one part of it having seemed to have caught fire before the rain put it out. It felt eerie and devoid of life and yet Hinata could not have asked for more. He went around the school, life returning to his eyes more and more as he took wobbling steps towards the building behind it, the familiar sight of it making relief well up in his heart and tears in his eyes.

He finally felt like his journey had led him home.

And yet, all of it seemed like it had been stolen from him in the blink of an eye, like the explosion had done on that night, by the simple impact of a body against his. And part of Hinata wished, as he hit the rough ground harshly, that this time, he would stay dead.

His vision swam and his voice escaped him, the impact jarring his irritated ribs and making him breathless. There was somebody towering above him now, face hidden in darkness, and yet the baseball bat by his side was clear-cut. Hinata's eyes widened minutely, and he was overcome with a sudden sense of bitterness. That he would be stopped right before entering the gates of his grave was simply too cruel. He didn't want to do this anymore.

"...at...ng... ere..."

Hinata hadn't heard voices in so long. He wondered if he still remembered how to speak. The voice questioning him mercilessly belonged to the faceless man now pointing the bat at his face threateningly, and yet it seemed familiar somehow, like a warm hug.

But there would be no warmer hug than death at this point, Hinata was convinced of that fact.

"Who are you? What's your purpose here? Have you come to rob us? Damn it, answer me! You... you aren't dead, are you?" the voice questioned continuously, and Hinata figured he may as well indulge the man. At least one of them would go to sleep satisfied tonight.

"I..."

"Identify yourself!"

"I..." Hinata continued, having trouble breathing. "I... came here to die."

"What?" the voice suddenly backed off, and the bat was lowered. "What the fuck?"

Hinata wanted to laugh, but he couldn't even muster the energy. It was all gone. Everything.

"Oi, what... Who are you?"

There were hands on him, and Hinata did not even care enough to struggle. They fumbled lightly with his hood, trying to pull it down, and Hinata did not even complain when the person -so, so familiar, like a warm hug, like the smell of home and the feeling of safety- tugged at his hair while bringing it down.

And there was a gasp.

"H-Hinata!"

That must have been his name. Probably. Did this guy know him? The orange-haired boy probably knew him, too. Somewhere. In the depths of his eclipsed mind, he probably did. But now...

"Christ, god, I fucked up, oh god, hang on, hang on!"

There was no point in hanging on anymore, the boy wanted to say, eyelids drooping sluggishly. He wanted to sleep and never wake up.

"Damn it, Hinata, eyes open! Shit, shit... Tanaka! Tanaka, I need help!" The hands turned him over on his back, and Hinata did not respond. Slowly, he was shutting down, and his eyelids slid shut over his dull, lost gaze.

A harsh slap to the face suddenly jolted him back, and Hinata glared lightly at the person above him. Soft, lovely, wide brown eyes were looking down at him, the rest of the features hidden under the hood of the other person's jacket, and Hinata felt at ease with them. He perhaps did not recognize the person kneeling next to him, but he was glad that he was dying next to somebody he apparently knew once.

"Don't close your eyes! Hinata, I swear to god, stay awake! Stay awake... You're safe now. You're safe. You're safe. You're safe..."

His mother had said that. Perhaps she hadn't been lying. It wasn't morning anymore, but the sun was dying now, and perhaps this is what she had meant by him being safe and sound in the end.

"Noya! What's going on?"

"It's Hinata! He's hurt, oh god, help me get him inside!"

"What!?" There was shuffling, and someone was tugging at his limbs. "Fuck, he's a mess, oh god, what do we do?"

"Get him inside! Now!" the first voice responded, tone trembling. A hand was suddenly put on his forehead, cool and comforting, and it pushed all of his dirty hair out of his eyes. "Hinata... You're gonna be okay. We're going to take care of you."

Hinata blinked. Once. Twice. Noya. Tanaka. Three. Four. Safe. Alive. Five. Six. Friends. Family. Seven. Eight. Warmth.

He closed his eyes.

"Hinata! Shouyo! Don't do this! Shouyo, wake up!"

Hinata drifted off.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

It was cruel for heaven to look like the Karasuno gymnasium, Hinata thought as he opened his eyes to a familiar ceiling. Now he'd have to spend all of eternity remembering the life he used to have before he died. Perhaps he'd ended up in hell instead.

Slowly, testing himself out, he sat up, taking a deep breath to steady himself and regain his bearings. He couldn't remember how he died, or when that happened, but it was finally over, and Hinata could rest at ease.

But then... Why did his body still hurt all over if he was dead and chilling in heaven now? And why the bandages everywhere? Couldn't god just snap his fingers and fix him?

"This sucks," he huffed, crossing his arms, and biting his lip to stifle a cry of pain. He breathed harshly through his nose until the sensation ebbed away and then carefully turned to sit on the edge of the bed. And then he realized that he had a tube sticking out of his nose, and he cried out softly, touching it. It was taped to his nose and he had no idea why it was there, but he figured he'd ask when someone came around. Until then, he needed to know what was going on.

The soles of his naked feet were raw and hurt when he tried to stand up, and his knees buckled at first, but Hinata steadied himself with the bed and began taking a few steps around his little bedroom. Although that term was rather lightly used.

In reality, it was just a single mattress mounted on a metal bedframe, and a small table at the side. Curtains had been set up with poles and created two walls whilst the gym walls made up the corner where the bed was pushed. It was a sweet little setup, and Hinata was grateful for the isolation.

But he needed to know what was going on.

Tentatively, he went for the curtain, and gently pushed it open. His eyes immediately fell on the scene in front of him, and his eyes widened.

He stood on the landing that ran above three sides of the gym, looking down on the court where he used to play volleyball with his friends. His hands tightened on the railing to steady himself, a sudden vertigo taking his entire body hostage, and his knees buckled. He held onto the rail for dear life until he could bear his own weight again.

The gym was mostly empty, although there was a small setup next to the back entrance to the gym that looked like a camping stove and some buckets of water. Plastic dishes were stacked on top of a table next to it, along with some other cooking utensils, and the whole setup looked like an improvised kitchen, and a pretty good one at that, too. If Hinata bent over the railing a bit, too – his ribs hurt like hell, nevermind-, he could see a small table with a laptop on it, some maps, and what looked like a battery-operated radio. There was a chest next to it and some chairs, and the amount of papers and pens strewn around the area made it look like it was often used.

He turned his attention to the top landing, noting that it had become something of a bedroom, for the most part. Sometimes separated by cardboard boxes, curtains or night stands, futons, mattresses, and clumps of blankets were lined up against the wall, some of them made up really nicely, others completely messy. Hinata chuckled at that. It made the whole setup look lived in, and strangely homey.

On the central stretch of the landing, where he was standing, there seemed to be a medical station, hence the isolated bed. There was a desk with some papers on it and pens, and then a bunch of medical equipment. Hinata could see disposable gloves, masks, bandages, antiseptic solution, and maybe a syringe or two. The rest of it was probably in the cardboard boxes stacked under the desk. Then, further away, there was a blue cooler, and next to it were some ripped grocery bags that obviously contained half-eaten food.

Hinata's stomach grumbled at that, and he made a move to go grab something to eat.

"Eh...? Hinata!"

At the sound of his name being cried out in such surprise, the short teen turned around to face the person who'd called him, the sudden movement almost making him lose his balance. He swayed on his feet, but thankfully, there was a reassuring grip on his arm before he could fall.

"Hinata, what are you doing? You're not well enough to be up. Go right back to bed, alright?" the person chided him gently, and a huge grin blossomed on Hinata's face.

Maybe... maybe being alive wasn't so bad after all.

"I'm so happy to see you, Suga," he beamed, and put his arms around the silver-haired third year. And Suga laughed and held him, and Hinata laughed and cried, because finally, finally, he was home.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Suga had picked up nursing, apparently, in the six days since the world went to hell. He'd taken textbooks and practically transported the school nurse's office to his little corner on the Karasuno gymnasium's landing and had poured everything he'd had into mastering skills necessary to take care of his team. To Hinata's relief, Suga had informed him that most of the members of their volleyball team had gathered and had made it through thick and thin, only to set up base in the gym to try and outlast the storm.

But then, although he'd had a thousand and one questions to ask him, Hinata had been just too tired and had retired. Suga had come around with a stethoscope and a heavy-looking textbook and had done his best to give him a head-to-toe check-up according to the book's instructions. He then had skimmed over what he'd done for Hinata, and had told him that the tube, that they'd been using to feed him liquid foods while he was out for the past few days, could come out now. Hinata didn't really fancy anything inside of him that didn't have to be, and agreed that Suga should take it out.

Once it was out, Suga told him that it was important that he drinks lots of fluid to counterbalance the state of acute malnutrition and dehydration he'd come down with, and that if it came to the worst, he could always try giving him intravenous fluids.

But then, when Hinata looked down at his arms, both of which were mottled with bruises he didn't think he had before, he kindly refused Suga's offer to try and insert an IV (which had obviously turned out so well the last... fourteen times he'd tried?), and he promised to eat. Tomorrow.

Suga told him the team should be back from their daily raids for dinner soon, and that they'd be glad to see him, but Hinata was too tired to stay up. That isn't to say that he didn't try, but then at some point, his eyes slipped shut and he was gone.

...-...-...-...-...-...

"...Are you sure he'll be okay?"

"Well, you saw how we found Tsukishima, and he's okay now, isn't he?"

"B-But his wounds are so infected..."

"Let's do our best, alright?"

Hands and voices dragged Hinata out of his dreamless sleep, and he opened his eyes to the sight of Suga and Yamaguchi leaning over him.

"Ah, you're awake!" Yamaguchi gasped, stepping back before a smile dawned on his lips. "I'm so happy..."

"Yamaguchi bandaged your wounds when you got here, you know," Suga smiled. "He's the one to thank."

"For looking like a mummy?" Hinata chuckled, his ribs aching at the motion. He winced, and then smiled. "Thank you, Yamaguchi. I appreciate it."

"It's nothing at all. Suga's the one who calls the shots around here," the dark-haired boy chuckled sheepishly.

"But you did a good job, too. We're a team, and we're the ones who patch people up when they get hurt, so both of us have our roles to fulfill," Suga encouraged him, and then turned to Hinata. "Anyway, enough about that. How do you feel?"

"Better. Less tired. Kinda hungry," Hinata shrugged. "Sorry. I'm probably using up a lot of your supplies by just being here..."

"No such thing. We can always find more." But the sudden strain in Suga's smile didn't make him very credible on that. Guilt welled up inside of Hinata, and he looked down, ashamed.

"As soon as I get better, I'll help you guys find more stuff, okay? Promise," he whispered.

"Just get better, alright?" Suga's eyes darkened for a moment, but then perked right back up. "Alright. Your vital signs still seem okay. You have a bit of a fever, but it should go down if you take care of yourself. Asides that, we'll have to see how you're fighting the infection, and hopefully, the next raid Daichi will coordinate will be in a pharmacy still stocked with antibiotics."

"Can I see the others?" Hinata asked, eager to get moving a little bit.

"They should be back any time now, so if you wait, I'll tell them to come see you."

"Can't I get up?" Hinata pouted, crossing his arms.

"Not yet. Gather some more strength. You can start walking tomorrow morning, if you feel up to it," Suga smiled, moving to the curtain and struggling a bit to pull it open entirely on both sides. Hinata got a view of the front entrance to the gym and smiled gratefully at Suga for his consideration.

"Thanks again, Suga. For everything."

"Not at all, Hinata," the vice-captain of the volleyball team assured him, and then his expression turned wistful. "Some horrible, horrible things have happened to all of us, and when there is nobody else, we have each other. And we have to stay together because there's nothing else in the world more valuable than us."

The two first-years nodded silently at that. Hinata, mostly because he couldn't get a sound out of his throat at the thought of his mother's body still buried underneath all that rubble. Suga was right. He had nobody but the team now. They were his family.

Suga and Yamaguchi seemed to notice the haunted look in his eyes and shared a glance. Then, the older teen stood back and motioned to the younger.

"Come, Yamaguchi. We have to do medical inventory before the others get here."

"Yeah," the younger nodded curtly, heading for the desk and sitting on the floor.

"Tell me if you need anything," Suga nodded to Hinata, and then joined Yamaguchi at the desk. The two began checking the inventory of their cardboard boxes, and Hinata left them to it.

For a while, he closed his eyes and listened to the ruffling of equipment in the boxes and the occasional comment made by one or the other of the improvised medics. His heart warmed at the thought of Suga, ever-so-caring Suga, volunteering all of his time and energy taking care of others. And Yamaguchi, shy and quiet Yamaguchi, working hard to save other people's lives... it really was incredible.

He wondered what the others were up to.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The front entrance to the gym slammed open, startling Hinata right out of his shallow slumber. Suga and Yamaguchi, who were studying some nursing textbook or another together, stood up to look over the railing, and Hinata tried to lean as much as he could to take in as much of the scene as he could.

"Bow down before our skill!" A familiar voice echoed across the gym, and a large grin split Hinata's face.

"Behold!" The second voice added in, and Hinata outright laughed when Tanaka picked Nishinoya right off the floor, the latter brandishing a pack of toilet paper as if it were a gold ingot into the air.

"The almighty saviour of our asses, literally!" Noya exclaimed, sounding so convinced in his own speech that Hinata couldn't help but have tears in his eyes at the sight of the familiar ridiculousness of his two senpai.

"You're so crude and loud. Put that down," an exasperated voice came after them, and Hinata did not even need to see to know that it was Tsukishima, apathetic as ever.

"Don't you understand? My butt can't take any more towels!" Tanaka sobbed dramatically, putting Nishinoya down.

"Noya, Tanaka, you're embarrassing..." Asahi's gentler voice muttered as the ace walked in, carrying a backpack that looked rather heavy. He dropped it in the middle of the gym, next to Nishinoya's prized toilet paper rolls, and sighed. "Honestly..."

"Asahi is right," the familiar, comforting, commanding tone of their very own captain rang out as Daichi strode in, carrying a backpack as well. "Just because the world is ending, it doesn't mean you can be so crude."

"Lighten up, captain. Today was a good raid, after all," Noya grinned. "Let's have a feast tonight!"

"Agreed. I'm starving," Tanaka complained, flopping down on the gym floor and dropping his baseball bat next to Noya's.

"You two are going to doom us all, you know," one last voice rang out before the double doors closed and the chains around the handles were locked, and Hinata's heart positively leapt out of his throat. "With your appetites, we'll be running out of rations in no time!"

And he was on his feet before he knew it, covers thrown off and completely disregarding Suga's instructions because he was so happy, so, so happy that everyone was alive.

A debate had sparked on the floor below, and Hinata didn't care. He was flying again, soaring above the clouds where no pain could touch him and no sadness could rob him of this one moment when, standing in the light, he finally felt like he was safe and sound.

His knees buckled under his weight as he ran to Suga's side, and thankfully, the third-year was astute enough to catch him before he fell again.

"Hinata!" he chided, straightening him up, but nothing could wipe away the bright, sunny smile on his face.

All heads turned up to the landing at the sound of his name, and all eyes, without exception, went to his smile.

"Hinata!"

"Kouhai!"

The collective cry tumbled out of everybody's lips -even Tsukishima looked astonished, what a surprise-, and Hinata's cheeks hurt from how hard he was grinning.

"Idiot!" One cry towered above all others, and Hinata looked at Kageyama, who looked absolutely pissed and yet absolutely relieved so see him on his feet. "You stupid, stupid idiot!"

And Hinata laughed, and laughed, and though he wanted to welcome them back, all that came out of his mouth was a bright and unintentionally uplifting "Welcome home!".

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Home was imperfect.

Its inhabitants didn't always get along. The electricity sometimes went out and they'd have to have cold showers for days. When food ran out, they'd go to sleep to the lullaby moaned by their collectively empty stomachs. They couldn't turn on the lights due to a fear of being spotted at a distance and had to make good use of the daylight, and dragged black cloth over the windows at night. Sometimes, people disagreed on who got the night watch shifts. Other times, people disagreed on raid parties.

Sometimes, people cried. Sometimes, people bled. Sometimes, people were so afraid that they would wake up screaming in the night, and everyone else would pretend they didn't hear them sobbing quietly into their pillow. Sometimes, people came close to giving up. Sometimes, people did.

And yet Karasuno stood strong and towered over the challenges set in their path and best of all, succeeded. They trampled over obstacles, helped each other over the walls blocking their way and kept one another alive.

And through the dark, cold, terrifying nights where survival was put into doubt, there was always the mute reassurance that whether they lasted to see the morning light or not, they would do it together.

Karasuno was imperfect, but Karasuno was home. And when the sun shone through the dark clouds to wake them up in the morning, if there was no joy in living, there was always joy in being safe and sound and together.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Medical notes: What Suga put into Hinata's nose is a nasogastric tube (nose to stomach). It's actually pretty easy to insert, so he could do it if he knew the theory. Although NG tubes need to be used to administer prepared feeds only, Suga obviously doesn't run a hospital, so I imagine they injected cold chicken noodle soup and diluted juice or diluted, mashed up food into the tube. It's not the intended use, but... you gotta make do! As for IVs, they're also easy to set up once you've got the catheter in the vein, and the types of solutions to infuse are pretty easy to understand, but venipuncture (the process of piercing the vein to insert the catheter) is suuuper hard, especially if the person has difficult veins. So no wonder Hinata had bruises all over his arms from failed IV insertions. Baby. **

**So the verse is kinda... vaguely defined. It's a modern-day thing when Japan has a non-specified enemy they're at war with and the enemy bombarded cities and towns off the map to demoralize the people? But instead, what they achieve is mass panic and total disarray. Japan's total population is 127 million people, and I imagine that with all the fatalities in the week following the Forty Fireworks, maybe a little less than half of the population died or moved out of the country. **

**The offensive wasn't nuclear just yet, but it's coming! Also, if I could come up with a scientific rationale to include zombies, would you like that? Or would you rather I keep it a nuclear apocalypse!verse?**

**And please someone tell me what colour Yamaguchi's hair is oh my god. Wiki says black, brown, or evergreen, but seriously. What. **

**Hope you enjoyed! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this AU. I like it so far! And I definitely want to write more. Please review!**

**-NPNG**


	2. Unity

**Author's Note**

**Finally getting into the actual apocalyptic setting this chapter! Yaaassss!**

**Last chapter was a lot about Hinata, and now it's from Daichi's (and Suga's) point of view. But again, there's a bit of everybody. **

**I hope I didn't write these kids too OOC. I'm trying to adapt their personalities to how they'd cope in an apocalyptic world and IDK. I think they wouldn't be able to adapt as well because they're strong and united, but they've also never been so alone (without adults I mean) to face their struggles. So now they're trying to be adults when 2 months ago they were simple kids. **

**Warning: violence, some graphic imagery towards the very end, off-screen minor character death. **

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"We're not going to make it, are we?"<p>

The question was whispered softly, as if it hadn't even been meant to be verbalized, and yet Suga caught it and turned around. Daichi was leaning on the railing, looking down at the rest of the team who were either loafing around or half-heartedly passing each other a volleyball. The slackness in their movements betrayed the exhaustion that had resulted from their day and the accumulation of all the others before that, and Daichi wondered if playing volleyball in that fashion was lowering their morale rather than boosting it.

None of them had properly indulged in their favourite passtime since, two months ago, the country went to war and the world went to hell. Even bright, energetic Hinata looked too tired for a kid his age, even if all of his visible injuries had healed in the past three weeks he'd spent at the warehouse.

"I feel like we're just pretending to keep it together," he added after a moment's thought, and sighed. "What do we know about survival? Most of us are not even legal yet. We don't have a single adult amongst us to help us through this. The authorities aren't coming for us. We're doing a rush job of patching up all the holes in our fragile plans and I know it's going to come falling apart sooner or later."

Suga thought about these things, too. A lot, in fact. As the third oldest person in their group, he felt responsible for the others, and feared every single day for their safety. But the fear of loss was something he'd learnt to cope with after they'd received Tsukishima amongst them, four days after the destruction of the town. Then, he'd taught himself that fear of loss was not an obstacle, but something to motivate him to work harder.

"We'll be fine," he mumbled in reply, getting up from his chair and slowly walking towards Daichi. The words sounded like lies, but not entirely. That had to count for something, at least. "We've made it this far, haven't we? It's almost been a month since the Forty Fireworks, and we're all still alive. Roughed up, tired, maybe a little bit hopeless, but we're alive." Suga leaned over the railing, his arm just barely touching Daichi's in a silent gesture of comfort. "We're alive, and... we're still together," he added as an afterthought, and a small smile tugged at his lips. It suddenly felt more important not to be alone than not to be dead.

"You've always read the atmosphere so well. You should lead us instead," Daichi murmured, his lips answering Suga's smile with a smile of his own. And yet, his was sad as he watched Nishinoya purposely miss a ball, too exhausted to dive for it. "I'm not fit to lead. One day, I'll make the wrong choice and the consequences might kill you and the guilt might just kill me."

"You've always been our pillar of strength, Dai." Suga waved down at Hinata, who was waving up at them with the tired smile he always seemed to wear these days. "And you've never let us down. I don't think you ever would, no matter what you did."

"Captain!" Hinata yelled. "Suga! Do you want to play a 3 VS 3 with us?"

"I hardly think any of us have energy for something like that, Hinata," Suga laughed, but leaned away from the railing. "How about we relax and just spike some sets?"

"Yeah!" Hinata nodded fervently, and Daichi admired his energy and optimism despite all that had happened. Hinata seemed to have recovered fully from his traumatizing ordeal, even though anyone could guess that he would never forget the nightmarish days he passed by his family's grave, and the Captain wondered if perhaps he, too, could muster that kind of optimism to motivate his team.

His team. His people. His family.

"I'm coming," Suga called down to Hinata, and then turned to pat Daichi's arm comfortingly. "Don't put yourself down. You know everybody looks up to you and believes in you entirely. This isn't pressure put on you. On the contrary, it's a load off your shoulders, because we'll definitely have your back, no matter what."

And he started walking away.

"I suppose I shouldn't disappoint, then," Daichi muttered softly, more to himself than anybody else, and whether Suga heard him or not, he still did turn to read the flickering hope in his eyes.

"We all believe in you. When things go wrong, you always tell us it's going to be fine, and everybody believes you because if our captain said so, then it must be so."

For a second and a half, Daichi believed him entirely.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Daichi had never ever in his entire 19 year-old life been at a loss of what to do like he was at a loss now.

But then again, never in the span of his 19 year-old life had he had the lives of 9 other people quite literally in the palm of his hands.

He wanted to say that he was too old for this shit, but in reality, he was too young. Too fucking young. All of them were.

"Find the near-sssssshhhh... basemen-shhhh... hide and pray-shhhhhhh-"

"Damn this useless piece of junk!" Nishinoya raged once more, thumping the battery-powered radio that was currently reading off their collective death warrant.

"To all survivi-sshhhhhhhhhh... There is-sssshhhhhhh... no hope-"

"That's enough," Daichi turned the radio off completely, and he'd be lying if he said that his trembling fingers didn't fumble with the knob for a second before all sound filtered out of the gigantic room.

The team hardly even breathed at this point.

"We're all going to die," Nishinoya finally stated as if it was something inevitable. And the fact that nobody answered proved that they believed it, too.

"It's probably some bullshit hipster announcement from some guy thinking he's like in a video game, broadcasting on an AM station during the apocalypse," Tsukishima growled, but there was no bite to his words.

"He's been our rare source of information so far, and it's all been correct until now." Suga's eyes were on the radio, his eyes dull as he lost himself to his thoughts.

"But he's based in Tokyo. Maybe it doesn't concern us?" Yamaguchi tried meekly, and it was so incredibly obvious that he didn't even believe himself.

"Tokyo isn't that far from here. A nuclear explosion that would affect Tokyo in any way would affect us here, too," Asahi murmured, eyes downcast.

"W-Well, they didn't specify that Tokyo was the target! Maybe they're way off. Maybe the bombing is going to happen somewhere on Hokkaido, even, so we won't even be bothered by it," Yamaguchi tried again, and Daichi dimly noted that it was the most the boy had spoken in days. Shame it had to be about a topic like this.

"We don't know anything, though. Better safe than sorry," Kageyama butted in, strangely level-headed and focused, his gaze scouring the map of Japan that was stuck on the wall next to the command centre with duct tape. "We don't even know what kind of weapon they're planning to use."

"What if it's a huge explosion that'll destroy the entire island?" Hinata blanched suddenly. "We'll sink into the sea if that happens!"

A round of chuckles flitted across the small crowd, but it was uncomfortable, and the tension withstood the small relief brought by the orange-haired boy's antics.

"So... What's the plan, Captain?" Tanaka asked, and all eyes turned to Daichi, who suddenly felt sick from all the attention he was getting. He didn't want the burden of leading these people, who meant so much to him, into the jaws of death.

"I... I think... We should pack up supplies for a few days and hide in the maintenance hallways under the school. At least until we're cleared." His voice was fighting a war against the ball in his throat, but somehow, he managed to choke that out. "We're better safe than sorry, like Kageyama said."

"That doesn't make any sense." Tsukishima objected. "The maintenance hallways aren't meant for use over an hour or so, much less for living in!"

"This entire world isn't meant for living in anymore, Tsukishima," Tanaka grunted. "Dunno if you've looked outside the window lately."

"I know exactly where we stand."

"Guys, please don't fight," Yamaguchi set a hand softly on Tsukishima's arm, only to have it pushed off.

"I'm just trying to say that I went there once to hold the ladder for the janitor while he checked for a leaking pipe and I couldn't stand being in there for fifteen minutes." His lip curled in disgust.

"Tsukishima is right." To everyone's surprise, it was Kageyama who spoke up, although the familiar sight of anger etched into his features was a reassuring constant. "Just this once. Those hallways are dark, tight, mouldy, humid, dusty, full of spider webs, and just generally in really bad shape. We wouldn't be able to survive in there."

"What else are we supposed to do!?" Nishinoya bit back. "Just sit here and wait to die?"

"Well... if that place is as unsanitary as they describe... We'll all get sick and wreck our lungs and it won't help us any more than being, well..." Asahi trailed off quietly, his stomach roiling at the thought of what awaited them on the surface, or below it. Both options were highly unpleasant.

"Alright, so we'll sit here and die," Nishinoya clicked his tongue, glaring at Asahi as if he was the one at fault. "Best plan I've heard yet."

"What is wrong with you?" Tsukishima raised a brow. "You're so stubborn, it's annoying. I'm being logical here-"

"Logical!? That's funny!"

"Suga-senpai!" Hinata suddenly cut through the argument that was slowly escalating. All eyes went to him, and then to Suga, who hadn't spoken at all.

"What is it?" Suga asked as calmly as ever.

"What's your opinion?" Hinata asked, and suddenly his voice hushed, as if he was afraid, and hanging onto the next words with an almost religious fervour.

"Well..." Suga closed his eyes, and everyone was surprised to see him smile softly. "I suppose we'll have to trust our Captain one more time. He's never made any bad decisions before and I don't believe he'll start now, when it matters the most. I trust that we will be safe if our Captain says it will be so."

There was a silence again, and people shifted awkwardly. And slowly, as the tension that was so palpable in the air began to dissipate, Daichi finally breathed a sigh of relief and thanked whatever god still existed out there for Suga's existence.

"Alright, so let's get some basic stuff for a few days down there," he began talking, and was glad to see that all eyes were on him, though there was nothing but defeat in all the gazes upon him. "Suga, bring our most needed medical supplies down there. Kageyama described the place as mouldy and damp, so let's take the environment into consideration."

"Of course. I'll definitely pack some vitamins to boost our immune systems while we're down there," Suga nodded.

"Alright then. Tanaka, take Yamaguchi and pack non-perishable food for all of us for... 3 days."

"Yes, Captain," Tanaka nodded, then motioned to Yamaguchi. "Come on, kouhai! Let's see what we can dig up."

"Alright, so Asahi, start bringing down some of the smaller beddings. I'm thinking sleeping bags and futons. Leave the mattresses."

"Alright," the gentle giant nodded, and vacated to his task.

"Noya, please gather some stuff we'll need down there, like flashlights and batteries, toilet paper, entertainment... Maybe grab some clothes, but not too many."

"Got it, Captain," the smallest team member nodded, determination in his eyes, and left to gather his stuff.

"Hinata, Kageyama, grab a baseball bat or a crowbar and patrol the perimeter. We have a lot of things to get across to the school and we can't have anybody sneaking up on us to steal our supplies."

"Yeah," the infamous duo of Karasuno exclaimed at the same time, visibly serious about their important task, and left to pick their weapon of choice.

"Tsukishima, you and I are going to go get access to those halls," Daichi finished with a sigh, looking at the tall blonde. "Do you know if there are any keys?"

"Probably in the principal's office, or maybe the security office," Tsukishima pondered out loud. "Although those are pretty far out in the school. I don't think we should be venturing too deep. This school is the biggest place for miles around and it's a possibility that other groups have taken refuge somewhere in there. Let's be discreet and quiet-"

"And bust open the lock?" Daichi finished, and then laughed. "Right. I suppose you're right. Sounds like you've played a lot of zombie apocalypse games in your free time to know all this."

"Enough to know that there's probably something worth surviving for, out there," Tsukishima shrugged, and Daichi held his breath. His eyes went to the violent red scar that drew a jagged line from the side of the blonde's neck into his hairline, and he knew at that moment that the first year knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Captain! We're ready!"

And he turned around, eyes on Hinata and Kageyama with their baseball bats and binoculars, and then surveyed the buzzing scene behind them, and realized that Karasuno was worth surviving for.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The hallways were way too tight and mouldy and smelt of humidity accumulated over the years and filled their lungs with dust with every breath. And when Asahi made a noise, they all quickly learnt that he'd found spiders uncomfortably close to him, and that was no comfort at all.

The futons and sleeping bags were opened and lined up on the floor along the small hallway, barely wide enough to accommodate a regular sized person laying in width. Nishinoya and Hinata got lucky for once, but poor Tsukishima and Asahi quickly realized they'd have to sleep in foetal position. Slowly but surely, the team cleaned up the small space as best as they could while Suga passed out some masks for them to wear (they wouldn't keep everything out, but at least dust would keep clear of their lungs!), and by the time night had fallen (hard to tell, really, but Daichi had a digital watch that read 10:38 PM), they were all set up.

"Dinner?" Suga suggested once everybody had picked a spot on the sleeping bags, thin and barely keeping the chill of cold stone off of their bodies.

"What's on the menu?" Tanaka asked, probably smirking under his blue mask.

"I dunno," Suga flashed some light into the box keeping their rations. "How about canned ravioli? One can per two people."

Groans came from everybody, but Suga pulled the cans and spoons out, knowing they were not going to refuse the meal. And, predictably, the cans were passed in silence, popped open with some effort, and then the only thing they could hear was the slow chewing of people who weren't even sure why they were trying anymore.

The night was freezing, and when the team finally silently agreed to huddle up under the thin blankets, everybody also silently agreed that what happened underground stayed underground. The occasional shifting or not-so-occasional cough lulled them all into a restless sleep.

The morning was only announced thanks to Daichi's watch alarm. When the team woke up, it was still pitch black, and only their flashlights oriented them one by one a couple of minutes down the hallway, where they established a corner for all their hygienic needs. After that, they had a small breakfast of plain toast then basically all returned to huddling under the blankets to outwait... whatever they were outwaiting at this point.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Daichi's watch showed 9:13PM, and the team was going to go absolutely crazy.

"I can't stay here any longer," Tanaka groaned.

"I've never been claustrophobic but this is way too much!" Noya agreed.

"Please stay strong, senpai!" Yamaguchi pleaded with the most upbeat voice he could manage through the roiling sickness in his gut. "Only another day and a half!"

"Kouhai..." The two voices came, as expected, but they were exhausted beyond relief and everybody knew they were just behaving like they usually would have in order to keep a semblance of normalcy. "We'll do our best for you."

They called an early night, but nobody slept. Somewhere in the incredibly suffocating darkness, at some point during the eternally lasting night, Hinata began crying into the pile of clothes he used as a pillow, and all the others pretended they couldn't hear him.

Some people woke up with sore backs from sleeping on the ground. Others woke up with sore jaws from biting on their pillow through the night.

That morning, at 10:28AM, time froze.

Suga was in the middle of telling a story about his middle school days, and nobody was actually listening, but they were glad for the background noise. The occasional clanking of old pipes and the drip-drip-drip of moisture droplets really was the most depressing background noise ever. And it was eventually going to drive them crazy.

One could even say that the loud and terrifying sound of an explosion somewhere on the outside was a welcome change of pace.

But really, it wasn't.

The wooden beams holding up the walls shook and dirt and plaster began falling, more dust raining upon them.

Karasuno forgot to breathe.

"Under the blankets!" Of course, Daichi was the first to recover. Captain's orders were always right. "Cover your heads!"

There was noiseless shuffling as the team members practically threw themselves on the nearest blanket, and it was actually surprising how seamlessly they all agreed on who shared which blanket in the span of a second. Blankets were thrown over their bodies, and the team bore the impact of small pieces of debris and held their breaths for what must have been an eternity. An eternity in which the earth rattled and shook and they all feared at some point that the entire school would collapse over their heads. And perhaps this was the end. Perhaps their efforts were futile. Perhaps they weren't meant to survive in the first place.

And then, it lightened, and it stopped.

The rumbling stopped and everybody was left to listen to the violent thumping of their own hearts in their ears.

After a minute where bits and pieces of debris still crumbled down noisily, Daichi was the first to poke his head out of the blanket, and immediately, his eyes stung from the dust in suspension that had been kicked up around them.

"Stay under!" he ordered, breaking into a violent coughing fit that almost ended up in retching.

"Daichi! Don't hurt yourself!" Asahi's worried world came, muffled by the blankets.

"Captain, you should get back under a blanket until the dust settles," Kageyama's cool voice added on, muffled as well.

"I'm going to try and air out this place," the Captain coughed again, weakly grabbing an extra blanket and standing up. His eyes watered from all the dust and he closed them, painfully feeling small particles burning his eyes and rubbing against his eyelids. Blindly, he shook the blanket several times, hoping he was at least making some difference at all.

But then he was coughing his lungs out, and someone was tugging at his sleeve and he relented, laying down under the blanket of the person who'd grabbed him.

It took him a while to get his eyes open again, and when he did, he saw jackshit in the dark. But then, there was a sigh, and Daichi knew exactly who had pulled him down, and he couldn't help but smile, just a little.

"I told you," Tsukishima murmured, as if it was meant just for him. "There's always something worth surviving for."

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Daichi checked his watch from time to time. Around 11:49AM, he decided that they'd stayed in semi-silence under the suffocating blankets long enough.

"Does anyone have a flashlight on hand?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"I have one," Suga called. "Do you want me to check if the dust has cleared?"

"Please be careful," Daichi replied, and listened to the ruffling of the blanket as Suga slowly took it off his head. There was a click, and a welcome light filtered through the cloth of his blanket.

And Suga took a sharp, audibly panicked breath.

"Suga?" Daichi asked, immediately on high alert.

"I-It's nothing," Suga waved it off in a shaky voice, not mentioning how horrifying the scene looked to him.

Seeing his comrades lined up on the ground, silent. A leg or an arm poking out of the blankets, limp. The lumps under the covers, unmoving. It was as if he'd lined up their bodies, or as if he'd stumbled upon their final attempts to survive.

He didn't mention it and instead used his light to survey the darkness around them. Most of the dust particles had cleared from the air and Suga wasn't coughing his lungs out, so that was a good sign, definitely.

"Okay," he called, readjusting his mask. "You can come out slowly so we don't kick up the settled dust again."

With soft groans, Karasuno's survivors began pushing their blankets off of their heads and taking deep breaths, then coughing to clear out whatever dust they'd inhaled. One by one, more flashlights clicked on, until the light in the small hallway was acceptably bright.

"Is everyone alright?" Tanaka asked, rubbing the kinks out of his neck.

"No injuries?" Daichi shone his flashlight at his team members, one by one taking in their haggard, dirty, terrified expressions.

When nobody answered, Suga nodded.

"Good," he sighed out. "I'm glad. Hinata, can you pass us the bottles of water? It'll do us some good."

"Yeah," the short teen replied softly, and the lights shining on him helped him find the bottles in the box of their (quickly dwindling) food stocks. The water was silently passed around, everybody knowing not to take more than 3 gulps each despite their aching throats, and soon enough, they were back in the silence.

"What happened out there?" Nishinoya finally ventured to ask, voicing a question that people were too afraid to ask.

"Could it... could it have been...?" Asahi began, but trailed off quietly, and nobody needed him to finish to know what he'd meant.

"Probably," Kageyama grimly contributed, lips pinched in a frown. "But since it's over now, we can get out of here, right?"

"No," Daichi replied, though the resulting questioning noises, dripping with confusion and desperation, made him wish he didn't have to be the one to make that call. "We don't know if there is a second one being prepared. And even if there isn't, we have no idea what they used up there. If there's any radiation, we should let it dissipate as much as possible before exposing ourselves."

"Damn," Tsukishima clicked his tongue. "So what you're saying it that we're stuck here anyway?"

"Yeah," Daichi's eyes went to the cold concrete floor in shame and in resolution. "Sorry. At least another day."

At first, there was nothing. And then, soft, quiet sobs punctuated the air. Daichi felt Tsukishima lean away from him, towards where Yamaguchi was, and realized that the gentle first year must have been the one who'd cracked under the pressure. The blonde was now probably holding his best friend and if he was crying at all, it was probably muffled in his hair.

The flashlights turned away from the duo in respect, but then Hinata began sniffling as well, and Kageyama said something akin to "don't cry, stupid", in his own shaking voice.

The lights turned off one by one until there was total darkness, and within its chokehold, the group of teenagers held one another and softly, quietly grieved the uncertainty of their future.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

There was no appetite after that, and so their supplies lasted a bit longer than expected. However, by the third day and a half in the damp dungeon-like hallway, Daichi feared for his team's mental health, and decided that whether radiation or insanity got to them first, they'd die anyway.

"Okay," he finally announced over lunch, which was a grim, silent event at this point. "After lunch, let's pack up and get out of here. Whatever happens, we can't stay here anymore."

He didn't expect the entire team to drop their food immediately and shuffle to get things organized. There was the sound of bumping and quiet a few cries of pain, but Daichi found himself laughing at the sudden burst of energy that had taken hold of his team. Flashlights turned on and wherever they shone, there was a new air of hope and relief that radiated and made the freezing hallway a fraction of a degree warmer. Just enough to push them forward.

They were packed up in the impressive span of 20 minutes, and ready to go.

"Alright, we all okay?" Daichi asked, feeling his own breath against his cheeks and eager to remove the annoying mask that had become almost a part of him in the past three days.

"Yes, Captain!" Several cries echoed out, the loudest, most welcome noise they'd had in days, and Daichi chuckled.

"Right. Let's go."

Nobody looked back as they began making their way down the hall.

"Now remember that we don't know what's out there," Suga explained as they made their way out. "First, we'll secure the gymnasium, and then we'll take care of ourselves like we deserve. Don't let your guard down until we're back in the gym with the doors locked behind us."

"Oh man, I can't wait for a shower," Noya groaned, and there was a collective, airy laugh that answered his complaint.

"Please, showers?" Tanaka huffed. "I can't wait to breathe without having to choke every two seconds."

"I can't wait for the sun," Hinata piped up.

"Yeah, it must be warm outside right now," Yamaguchi agreed cheerfully.

"I can't wait to sleep without having to double over," Tsukishima grunted.

"We can all do without the back pain," Asahi agreed sympathetically.

"Well in any case, at least we won't be sitting around doing nothing anymore," Kageyama added.

"Yeah. And at least we're all still alive," Suga topped off reassuringly.

Daichi's contribution to the conversation was the sound of a door being pushed open, and a light shining on a rusty ladder melded to the wall.

"One by one, wait for the signal to climb before getting on, and be careful of how cold and slippery the metal is." He than turned to him team, not even needing his flashlight to know that their eyes were sparkling in relief. "Let's get out of here, Karasuno."

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Ascending to the surface made them aware of the gradual, but huge difference in temperature between where they were and where they were going. Even before exiting the busted door that would lead them to the outside, they could feel their bodies rewarming.

Daichi's heart sunk, though, as the door only opened a sliver before blocking.

"Shit," he swore, heart thundering as he tried to push. The door creaked and slowly opened another centimetre, but did not budge otherwise.

"What's going on?" Suga asked behind him.

"Can't open the door. I think something crumbled behind it and is now blocking the door," Daichi grunted, pushing hard. "Damn it!"

"Daichi," Asahi softly spoke up, determination brimming in his voice. "Let me try and push."

"Do your best," the captain grunted, letting Asahi take his place by the door.

The ace planted his feet firmly in the ground, and began pushing the door with all of his strength. Slowly, it budged a little more, and debris tumbled in front of the small segment of the door that was open. They could see the school hallway and so the blockage must only have been partial, but it must have been one hell of a blockage if even Asahi couldn't move it.

"Come on, come on!" the long-haired brunette grunted mostly to himself, weakened muscles straining to push the door open. It opened a bit more, but Asahi could feel the debris pushing back. If he let go, the door would close, and he didn't know if it'd open again. And he could feel himself weakening, strength sapped out of him with every breath he huffed out in effort.

"Asahi!" A voice cried out from the back suddenly, and Asahi almost let go.

"Noya?"

"Keep it open. I think I can get through the gap and go clear the rubble outside," Nishinoya volunteered, his tone of voice familiar and comforting. It sounded exactly like when Nishinoya promised to guard their backs during volleyball games. And the libero had never gone back on his promises before.

"Go," Asahi prompted without hesitation, and everybody shuffled to let Nishinoya pass.

"Hinata!"

"Yes, senpai?" the orange-haired kid snapped to attention immediately.

"Come with me! You're tiny enough to fit through, too."

"Yeah," Hinata nodded, determined, and the two smallest of the group. Maybe being small wasn't so bad after all.

Nishinoya and Hinata did fit through with some effort, indeed. It was strange to see them go through, but as soon as they did, the adrenaline that had pushed Asahi further began to evaporate.

"Asahi," Nishinoya called, standing in the sliver of the door that was open still. "You can let go. Keep your strength for later cause we'll probably ask you to push again."

"But-"

"Let go." Nishinoya's voice was quiet and flat. "Trust us to get you out."

There was a slight hesitation to abandon the smallest hope they'd had in so long, but then, Daichi realized that the smallest hope they had in this situation was Nishinoya, followed by Hinata.

"Do as they say," the captain decided. "They'll get us out."

"Okay," Asahi nodded, and looked straight into Noya's eyes before the two nodded to each other. "We'll wait."

The door closed, and there was the slight sound of rubble falling in front of it. It was an ominous sound, and a sudden nausea welled up in everybody's throat at the thought of being locked in here forever.

"Hey." There was a knock on the door from the other side, and everybody jumped at the sound of the libero's voice, muffled by the thick wood. "Don't worry too much. Trust us."

Nobody replied, but the tension definitely lowered down to an acceptable level.

"Well..." Daichi sighed, sliding down to the floor. "You heard him. Sit down. I guess we'll be here for a bit."

The next hour passed with the company of occasional chatter, but mostly the sound of rubble outside. Occasionally, Nishinoya's or Hinata's voice would be heard, but the two seemed to be working in silence mostly.

It was heartening to hear the debris scratch against the door because that meant that the others on the other side were still there. So the team almost took a nap, lulled by the sound of their teammates' hard work.

There was a knock at the door again after a while, startling everyone out of their thoughts.

"Asahi, try pushing a little bit," Nishinoya directed from the other side, and the tall teen stood up, nodding.

"Get away from the door," he warned, and gave the agile libero five seconds before throwing his weight against the door.

To their relief, the door opened, and slightly wider than before. However, again, it struck a piece of rubble, and wouldn't budge.

"Okay," Noya appeared in the now-clear doorway. "There's a large piece of wall here that's blocking the door, and it's the only thing left in the way." The second-year thought for a second, and then looked into the darkness. "If we push and pull at the same time, we could probably clear it. Can we get anybody else through here?"

"Kageyama is rather slim," Suga suggested, turning his eyes to his fellow setter.

"That is, if his head's not too big to fit through the door," Tsukishima added snarkily, and Yamaguchi laughed softly next to him. The others rolled their eyes at his antics, slightly comforted by the familiar display.

"Yeah, because you'd be so much better, four-eyes," the black-haired teen frowned.

"In fact, both of you can fit through," Noya smirked. "Get over here. Yamaguchi, you, too."

"How come you get all of our kouhai, Noya?" Tanaka pouted as the three made their way to the door.

"I'll take care of them, Tanaka. You help our senpai out," Noya smirked at his best friend, and pulled the door slightly to let Kageyama, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi squeeze through with some effort.

"Count on me, Noya," Tanaka smirked back to him.

"Right," Noya looked behind him at his kouhai. They were staring at the wall, eyes wide at the sight before them, and Nishinoya gave them a moment because when he and Hinata had seen it at first, they'd had the same reaction.

But then, there was work to do.

"Kageyama, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, get a grip on that piece of wall. Hinata, you and I will pull on the door. You guys behind push with everything you've got on three, alright?"

"Right!" All voices answered him, and there was movement as everybody got into position. The ones behind the door caught a sight of their younger teammates grabbing what seemed like a huge piece of rubble, and when Hinata and Nishinoya hooked their fingers on the door, they saw their split and bleeding fingers, and a sudden sense of determination to help their kouhai as much as possible overcame them.

"On three!" Nishinoya directed. "One, two... Three!"

The collective groans of effort on every side filled the air, and the door creaked at all the pressure on it. The rubble rumbled as it moved slightly, and it lit new hope in their hearts.

"Just a little more!" Nishinoya encouraged, and the effort doubled in the last stretch.

The piece of wall suddenly moved, and the door swung open. The momentum of the abrupt movement sent everybody stumbling, and cries from different parties arose as Karasuno fell to its knees.

But then it stood, and it laughed in the face of adversity as it always had done in the past.

"We did it!" Hinata was the first to cry out, laying on the floor panting with his bleeding fingers imprinting on the dirty floor. "We're out!"

"Good job, everyone," Daichi grinned, catching his breath. "Let's go back."

He didn't say they should return home, because home had been with them this entire time.

"Alright, let's gather our stuff and get out," the captain directed, stepping out of the dark place and letting his eyes get adjusted to the light once more.

And then, he looked to the wall that had crumbled, and his eyes widened.

"Spooky, isn't it?" Nishinoya mumbled, following his line of sight. "This world will probably never be the same again."

The third-year nodded, speechless.

The wall had crumbled entirely, leaving them with a view to the outside. He could only see the sky from where he stood, but it was enough. It was enough to see the dark clouds covering the afternoon sun, diffusing the rays into an eerie blood red colour. The sky was bleeding.

"I don't like the looks of this," he simply muttered before tearing his eyes away. "Let's get back to the gym as soon as possible."

"We'll escort," Tanaka announced from behind them, tearing his eyes away from the chilling sight as well to throw Noya a baseball bat.

"Thank you," Daichi nodded, and looked back. Whilst most of the teens were moving their things out of the dark entrance to the maintenance hallways, Suga was sitting with Hinata and cleaning up and bandaging his ruined fingers. A quick glance at Noya's hands proved that they were just as bad, but the second-year did not look bothered at all.

"I know," the libero answered his captain's silent inquiry when he saw what his gaze had found, and twirled the bat in his hands to prove he was fine. Dull pain spiked up both of his arms, but he'd ask Suga to help him out after they were all back in the gym and safe.

As safe as they could be.

"Let's go," Tanaka motioned to the pile of rubble that led up to the crumbled part of the wall. Noya nodded and they both began scaling it. It wasn't very high, a little over two metres, and when the two stood at the top, they looked at the gym.

The bloody sky was casting a fiery orange glow on the building that had housed them for a month now, and they noted with sinking hearts that a part of the roof had been blown away, leaving a clean hole on top of the building. Behind the gym, the houses right off of school grounds were smoking from extinguished fires, or were completely destroyed.

They didn't dare look further. They tried to enjoy the moment they had to themselves, together, free under the broken sky. They took a simultaneous, deep breath of warm, dry air, and then jumped down to the ground.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Daichi was receiving the sleeping bags that Kageyama was throwing down to him from on top of the broken wall and was handing them off to Suga, who was helping Asahi get loaded up with equipment. Their chain system was working very well, with the first years passing them the equipment on the inside, and the third-years getting ready to transport them on the ground.

"Okay, I'm coming down," Kageyama announced when Asahi was loaded enough, and jumped and rolled as he hit the ground in front of Suga. Tsukishima took his place on top of the broken wall and took over the job of lowering their equipment for Suga to be loaded this time.

The equipment was lowered entirely to the ground and the first-years all jumped down to join the rest of the team around the time when Tanaka and Nishinoya came running up to them.

"What's wrong?" Daichi immediately asked, on high alert.

"There's someone," Nishinoya panted softly, whipping sweat out of his dirty face. "At the gym doors."

"What?" Daichi's eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth.

"A girl," Tanaka frowned, breathing heavy. "She's asleep under the awning at the entrance. We saw her from afar and we weren't sure what to do."

"Thank you for coming back and reporting," Daichi nodded, then turned to Suga, whose face was set grimly.

Girl or not, survivors of this world were often merciless, and nobody could be trusted.

Except those that could be.

"Alright..." Daichi took a while to come up with a plan. Behind him, most of the packing had been finished, and the first years had seemingly volunteered to carry their stuff in the time he spent debating. "Asahi, close the pace. Noya, go with him in the back in case this girl has accomplices that want to jump us. Everybody carrying equipment in the middle. Suga, Tanaka, we'll lead up front."

"Right," the collective acknowledgement rang out, and people moved into position quickly. Daichi did not even need to look back to make sure that everyone was following before leading them forward.

The gym was not far away, a five minute walk, but they were out in the open and everyone's heart beat fast as they tried to spot possible dangers around them. Thankfully, nothing happened during the walk, and soon, Daichi could see the girl that the scouts had reported.

She had long matted brown hair and was wearing some dirty sweatpants and a sweatshirt. She was curled up on herself by the foot of the stairs to the gym and wasn't moving.

"Okay, stop," Daichi whispered when they were close enough. "Everyone stay here. Tanaka, with me."

"Sure." Tanaka's buzz-cut hair had grown a little bit, but his face still looked tough enough to intimidate. Coupled with the baseball bat, he'd definitely cut it in terms of psychological warfare.

The two broke away from the group and carefully approached the girl. She did not seem aware of their approach and stayed still.

"Miss," Daichi carefully called out. "Miss, wake up."

The girl didn't acknowledge them in any way.

"Oi! You're trespassing!" Tanaka added, ready to swing his bat if she suddenly became aggressive.

"Hey," Daichi frowned, and they stopped a metre away from her. "Hey, can you hear us?"

"Hey Miss!" Tanaka called out, extending his bat to poke her shoulder roughly. "We don't wanna hurt a pretty lady, so wake up and let's talk!"

But she did not respond. Even when Tanaka repeatedly tapped her shoulders and then her side with his bat.

Daichi's blood ran cold.

"Suga!" he called, turning to the group.

His trusty vice-captain did not even hesitate before he and Yamaguchi were running towards them, the latter carrying their first aid kit.

"What's up?" Suga asked, face set seriously as he arrived.

"Can you check if she's unconscious?" the captain requested, and the silver-haired teen nodded.

He got on his knees behind the girl and carefully set a hand on her back. She didn't respond. His other hand went to her neck, where he searched for a pulse point.

A moment later, he turned back to Daichi. The rest of the team had arrived behind them as well, looking anxious at the sudden development.

"So?"

"I... I don't think..." Suga's voice went dry, because no amount of books memorized in the span of a month could prepare him for his first fatality.

Too scared to look at his team, he turned back to the girl and took her arm, gently turning her over on her back.

Her bent knees stayed bent and her crisped arms stayed crisped. Suga noted how she was incredibly stiff and nothing but dead weight. Couple with the lack of breathing and pulse, there was no mistaking it.

But then biggest giveaway was her face, and Suga had never been so terrified in his entire life.

He yelped in surprise and fell on his butt at the sight of it, heart thundering and eyes burning. He closed them because when he volunteered to be their medic, he didn't volunteer for this, and as if Daichi had read his thoughts, a second later there were strong arms around him shielding him from the traumatizing sight.

She'd died with her eyes wide open, mouth open in a soundless scream. One of the eye sockets was empty, blood coating the entire right side of her face, dried with pieces of hair and dirt congealed on it. Many of her teeth were missing, and her nose was crooked. Her throat and jaw were bruised in several places and her ears were slit where someone had probably ripped her earrings right off her ears. She must have died while trying to seek shelter in the gym.

That in itself had many terrifying connotations, but nothing was as terrifying as her appearance.

Thankfully, before the first-years had a chance to see everything that Suga had seen, Tanaka had quickly knelt in front of the girl to stand in their line of sight, and Noya and Asahi had come to stand in front of the group, even if their own faces were screwed up in disgust and horror. But they'd moved just a little too slowly. The first-years hadn't seen everything, but they'd seen enough. And the shock was clear on every single one of their faces.

Tanaka had his eyes shut and was trembling silently.

"I'm okay," Suga announced shakily after a moment, and Daichi carefully removed his arms.

"Sure?" he whispered. "It's... pretty gruesome."

"We have to move her," Suga breathed out, getting up shakily. "She'll decompose and get us all sick." Nevermind the fact that they would never keep their sanity intact if they left the mutilated body on their doorstep.

"What do we do?" Tanaka's voice was strained, and Suga admired his courage. He gently put a hand on his shoulder and knelt next to him, taking a moment to take in the distress in his expression.

"Can I have a blanket?" Suga asked, and Kageyama snapped into action, shakily handing Noya one of the thinner blankets they had. Noya stepped forward to give it to Suga, who smiled sadly at him and opened up the blanket. As soon as the body was covered, everyone let go of the breath they'd been holding.

"Okay, Asahi, lead everyone inside the gym. Once you're all there, drop your things and grab a weapon, then sweep the entire gym to make sure nobody infiltrated while we were gone," Daichi ordered, patting Tanaka's shoulder to get him to stand up. "Go with them."

"B-But, the b-body-"

"Suga and I will carry it away," the captain assured him. "Just make sure there's nobody in there. Search every nook and cranny of the building."

"Yes Captain," the second-year nodded and joined the group that silently went into the gym.

Once the gym doors clanked shut behind them, Suga turned to Daichi.

"Sorry. I... I shouldn't have turned her."

"We would've seen her face somehow at some point, so don't worry," Daichi spoke softly.

"But... The first years-"

"-are not children," Daichi finished the sentence, and yet his heart clenched at the lie. They were kids, all of them were still kids expected to experience things that would rob seasoned adults of their sanity, and yet they were here and they were strong and they were going to make it.

"I wish this all didn't have to happen," Suga murmured, and then sniffled, wiping his eyes. "I don't know how much longer I can look at them suffering like this."

"Suga..." Again, his vice-captain's kindhearted nature struck him like a punch to the gut, and Daichi found himself taking one of Suga's hands in his own. The gesture was not romantic and it was not unnecessary. It was warm and it was comforting, and it was all too simply human.

"Sorry, Dai. I'm being a little dramatic, huh?" Suga laughed, grinning at the black-haired teen despite his puffy red eyes.

"You're being human," Daichi replied, and squeezed his hand one more time before letting it go. "In this world, it's the best we could hope for."

Sugawara laughed, and nodded.

"Right. Let's get this over with. Where do we put her?"

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Once the gym was cleared for use, the guys immediately grabbed a clean change of clothes and a towel and had all but sprinted towards the showers. The water was freezing due to the electricity shortage, but running water was all they needed because at this point, since anything that rid them of the 4-day old grime covering their bodies was welcome. The soap bar was passed around and by the time it got to the stall at the end, it was almost reduced to nothing.

After the shower, everyone set out to restock all of their equipment in the right place and do some chores. Clothes needed cleaning, the part of the roof that had crumbled had to be swept away into a corner of the gym, and best of all, dinner had to be cooked.

Asahi volunteered this time and used their remaining supply of fresh vegetables (hoping they weren't spoiled in the three and a half days they spent away) to cook them all a warm vegetable soup that settled in everyone upset stomach like a cool balm on a large burn or a comforting hand on a teary face.

Though they were exhausted from a long set of days and so many (mostly unpleasant) adventures, the fact that the roof had caved in still remained, and they couldn't leave themselves exposed to the elements (especially since they didn't know what to expect anymore following the radiation of the blast).

Daichi tried to find their trusty radio announcer on the radio, but after 15 minutes, gave up, and wondered if the guy was dead.

In any case, it was easy enough to find some tarp that the school used to set up a passage between the school and the gym during the heavy snowy season, and cheer banners for the school's various sports teams were brought out as well.

The operation was done under the dying hues of the bleeding evening sky, with the team's most agile members climbing to the roof and nailing the tarp as best as they could to cover the hole. They then used the cloth banners of the sports teams to reinforce the edges of the tarp and folded and nailed those, too, to prevent infiltration.

And when they were done, the team of roof-climbers gathered their equipment and began preparing to go down when Hinata stopped them and held up one of the banners with a huge grin. His following suggestion was debated for a moment, and then accepted. Nishinoya led the operation and the sound of nails being hammered into the roof lasted just a while longer.

The people overseeing the operation from the ground watched it unfold, and a weight was lifted off of their chests as the final banner was hammered in.

The roof team came down to join the ground team and they all looked up at their rough patch job. The fixed roof would already paint a huge target on their building, giving it away as being inhabited, and so the black banner fluttering in the gentle fall breeze, next to the patched-up hole, would not change a thing in terms of visibility.

In terms of morale, though, it worked wonders. And when, that night, several people woke up in cold sweat, haunted by their recent experiences, they sought out some form of human contact and returned to sleep, knowing that they'd be alright. Their teammates were still alive and well, and though the world had gone to hell, they still had everything they needed right there. And when the wind ruffled the tarp noisily, they did not care, because the words that had once been an emblem of their unity and of their strength were still out there, for them, and for the world to see.

_"Fly, Karasuno!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Hinata's a huge sap and nailed the volleyball team's banner to the outside of the building. It sounded cute to me IDK. **

**So the nuclear weapon thing... It's fictional. I did some minimal research on nuclear weapons and plutonium-based fission bombs (atomic bombs) would not have covered both Tokyo and the prefecture where Karasuno is situated. So let's just pretend this nuclear bomb was a wide-range weapon that literally razed the entire island of Honshu (the main Japanese island). You saw how destructive it was, but we'll explore what it did elsewhere as the team moves. But I won't spoil anything about that! Anyway, so it's a radioactive-element based bomb because it had radiation aftereffects that will be described later in the fic. And it's probable that all living organisms that were not at least 6 feet under the ground at the time of the explosion were killed, or at least seriously affected by the radiation (or the blast, if the organism is closer to ground zero).**

**So now you know how the girl died ^u^ She wasn't an important character, but she is an important example. There is a lot of information about future developments hidden on her, and the Karasuno boys probably should have looked her body over a little more to pick out clues that could save their lives O: But then again, these kids are like. 18 years old. Autopsying is way out of their league. **

**Yeah sorry about the ages. I'm so confused, tryin'a figure out how old people are. In terms of third-years, I think it's Daichi, Asahi and Koushi, and they're all 18 in this story. This takes place in, like... September-ish. And the war began two months before, so in July. The Forty Fireworks happened in August. **

**This chapter was mostly Daichi and Suga-oriented, but Noya and Tsukki were important, too. I'm really looking forward to giving people the spotlight one by one. Next chapter I'll probably get on Tsukki's story, because I think it'll go real good with what I've got planned for these boys. **

**Family!Karasuno is incredible. I love the bits and pieces out of them. And okay, I might include some shipping later on, but it definitely won't be the centerpiece of the story. Anyway in a situation like this, I don't really feel like there is any atmosphere for romance. But anyway. Later. The pairings will be the typical ones, except maybe AsaNoya because I'm super neutral about that pairing so IDK if I'll be able to write them? BUT RYUUNOYA BROMANCE WILL HAPPEN FO SHO. I love them. **

**Anyway! That's that for this chapter. I love this AU so much ahhh. Please be nice and leave me some comments about what you liked/disliked/would like to see! ;u;**


	3. Strength

**Author's Notes:**

**What the frick is wrong with me, vomiting up a 13k word chapter in a couple of days. I really need to concentrate on the end of the semester, oops. **

**More Karasuno family adventures! This chapter's mostly from Yamaguchi's point of view, but Tsukishima's rather important, too. I didn't get to explore his background like I'd planned (13k words, come on...) but it should be next chapter or the one after, definitely. It's coming at some point, anyway. **

**I'm at a loss of whose POV to use next chapter, so please send me your suggestions, if any!**

**Warning: Lots of blood, violence, blackmail, swearing, guns, minor character death, some OOC ('tis an AU, my friends). **

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Problems were not new to them at this point.<p>

However, problems of such magnitude as they had now... were a different story.

"Hinata, hurry," Kageyama groaned, pounding on the bathroom stall door, doubled over.

"I outran you, so I got d-dibs-" Hinata's shaky speech was interrupted by the sound of violent retching and the first-year setter winced.

"I'm gonna die, too, you know," he complained, and the toilet flushed a moment later, the door opening. A pale and sweaty Hinata stepped out, moaning.

"There. Don't die. We still need you," he managed a weak smirk before stumbling away towards the mass of bodies lying on the tiled changing room floor.

"Everyone still alive?" Daichi asked with a soft groan, face against the ground. A chorus of similar cries arose from everybody lying around him, a pathetic display at best of a group of people who had survived a nuclear explosion, only to be brought to their knees by a simple indigestion.

When the toilet flushed and the last member of their team joined them on the floor, Suga sat up with a wince and took a deep breath.

"Something we ate last night, maybe?" he asked mostly to himself. "Though I don't see why..."

"What did we eat, anyway?"

"Vegetable soup."

"Maybe the veggies went bad?"

"Not in that span of time. They were in the cooler and the ice packs were newly changed when we left the gym," Suga reasoned, and then groaned, lying back down.

A collective sigh rose from the bodies on the floor, and they let themselves think in silence.

"The bomb," a voice finally whispered through the sound of ruffling clothes. Everyone turned to the person who spoke, and Tsukishima sat up to reiterate his point. "The nuclear bomb. It's radiation, isn't it? Maybe..."

"Maybe it did something to the food?" Yamaguchi finished for his friend, sitting up as well now that the nausea had decreased.

"I'd think so," the blond mused out loud. "It makes sense. If the bomb set off radiation, it might have changed the DNA of organic matter, and made the proteins in food undigestable."

"Slow down, four-eyes!" Hinata cried out, sitting up in alarm and then groaning in pain at the sharp spike in his abdomen. "Urgh... Are you saying all the food is basically inedible now?"

"Maybe not all," Yamaguchi butted in, looking up at his best friend for confirmation. "Maybe... fresh things?"

"Canned food still has DNA," Tsukishima answered quietly. "But there are so many preservatives that maybe the DNA of canned food is already irreversibly changed anyway."

"And we can still eat it..." Asahi added in. "...Oh! So maybe canned food is still safe, right?"

"I don't think it's for sure, but..." Daichi clicked his tongue. "I guess we'll just have to try. Until we figure it out, we have the remaining rations from what we brought with us underground, so that should be safe. However, it won't last long."

"We'll need a volunteer to try the canned food and see if it's still edible..." Kageyama suggested, and a low hum of acknowledgement ran through the small crowd.

And then, all eyes turned to the second years, who were still silently sprawled on the ground. Feeling gazes piercing their backs, the two sat up, and then realized the gravity of the situation.

"H-Huh? Us?"

"W-Wait, can't we do rock-paper-scissors or something?"

"It's purely for scientific purposes, guys," Suga tried to comfort them, but his usually so-soothing smile was more threatening than anything else. "Come on, do it for the team."

"..."

"..."

"Fuck."

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

"Still alive in there?" Suga asked through the curtain of the infirmary, waiting for a groan or some other form of acknowledgement.

Instead, Nishinoya opened the curtain and looked at him questioningly.

"Well, as you can see, we're still okay."

"And Tanaka?"

"He's eating the second batch now. Canned pasta tastes like shit as usual, but we haven't dropped dead or anything."

"Well, it's been three hours now..." Suga thought out loud. "Technically the first batch has gone through your stomach already, so if you're not throwing up..."

"We're saved?" The libero's eyes lit up. "Hear that, Tanaka? We're okay!"

"Good. Can we eat something else now?" the wing spiker replied, peeking his head out of the curtain.

"Nope. But you've helped further science today, gentlemen, so thank you," Suga smiled and nodded. "Alright, out you come."

The three walked down to the lower gym where the rest of the guys were huddled around the command centre.

"Canned food is safe, as far as we're concerned," Suga announced as they arrived, and a relieved expression hit all of their faces almost comically.

"Good," Hinata pouted, crossing his arms. "So we won't starve to death."

"Debatable," Daichi answered to the silent question, eyes on the map. "Since we don't have any more fresh food, this decreases our supplies drastically. Cans will last us a while if we ration them, perhaps a few more days, but we're a lot of people, and there's definitely not enough food for all of us."

A somber silence fell upon them, and all eyes went to the floor. The implications of the statement were heavy. And highly displeasing.

"We're not..." Nishinoya licked his lips nervously, unable to meet Daichi's eyes. "We're not dropping anybody... are we?"

"No." However, as expected of the captain, the response was instinctively quick and fiercely passionate. The tension left the group, and there were a few sighs of relief. "I would never make any of us leave. We were lucky enough to find one another when this whole mess started. We'd be stupid to let one another go now that things have gotten bad."

"Alright," Tanaka nodded, eyes brimming with determination, and maybe a few tears. "So what's the plan?"

"Raids," Daichi sighed, knowing to expect the sudden flash of fear that crossed all of their eyes. However, to his surprise, the fear was gone in a second, and there was nothing but cold, hard acceptance in this eyes. Acceptance, but not defeat.

"Alright. How are we dividing up the territory?" Suga asked, coming closer to the map of the town spread out on the table. There were scribbles on it already, places that they'd already raided before, or places that were not viable anymore, and Suga was shocked to see how little place there was left for them to look. Their town was not going to last them long anymore. They'd have to find an alternative lest it become their grave.

"Well, we're nine people..."

"In threes?" Kageyama suggested.

"Three is too little. I'd be less worried if we were in groups of four," Daichi mumbled. "But then... five is too many..."

"One person could stay in the gym?" Asahi suggested. "Maybe to make sure that nobody breaks in..."

There was a second and a half of silence as the mutilated face of the girl at their doorsteps flashed behind their eyelids, but then they all exchanged a determined glance.

"What areas are there to cover?" Nishinoya asked, eyes roaming the map. "These here are all residentials. Think we can find anything?"

"The houses we saw yesterday, when we came out, weren't they all destroyed?" Tanaka frowned. "What salvageable things could we find there?"

"But they weren't completely destroyed, were they?" Nishinoya argued. "I'm sure there's stuff to find around there. Maybe we could look at houses that are still standing rather than the ones that are completely destroyed?"

"But you'll have to be careful. The houses still standing might not stand for a long time," Suga warned. "It's dangerous to go in those houses because we don't know what the state of the foundations are."

"Since when has anything ever been easy?" Hinata huffed. "Let's do it. Senpai, Kageyama and I will come with you!"

"Don't volunteer me without my consent, stupid," the setter crossed his arms, but didn't object. "Fine. Us four can go to a residential area and check out the houses. We're all pretty quick on our feet so if anything goes wrong, it'll be easy for us to get out."

"Done!" Hinata cheered. "Let's do it!"

"Alright. You guys can take this area here," Daichi circled a spot on the map. "You can probably enter the area if you go down the boulevard until you hit the smaller streets. Nishinoya, you can be in charge."

"Got it," the libero nodded proudly, ignoring Tanaka's indignant squawk.

"Suga, we'll go together to the stores on the main street. The smaller ones should still be okay to raid," Daichi decided, circling another spot on the map. "We haven't seen the state of the street, so we don't know how helpful these spots will be, but we haven't done them yet so we should at least try."

"Right. I'll get us some crowbars. We'll probably need protective gloves if we are gonna have to break through windows," Suga thought out loud.

"If you'll need to force your way in, maybe I should come," Asahi suggested, trying to be assertive. "And if things are crumbled I could help you move the rubble..."

"Good idea," Daichi nodded, and then turned to the two first-years that had been silent so far. "Tsukishima? Yamaguchi? Who's coming and who's staying?"

"I'll go," Tsukishima immediately volunteered without an ounce of hesitation. "Yamaguchi, you should stay here."

"But Tsukki!" the dark-haired boy exclaimed, and opened his mouth to contest, but then as the seconds ticked by and all eyes stayed on him, he realized that he had no objection. Tsukishima was taller, and stronger, and more adept and more dextrous, and more everything. Everything that he was not.

But the last time Tsukishima had gone on a raid...

"Hey," the blond sighed after a while, setting his hand on his best friend's head and ruffling his hair a little bit. "Don't say anything. Just stay here and take care of the place."

"Yeah..." Yamaguchi sighed, eyes downcast. "I'll wait for you, then."

"Then it's settled," Daichi concluded hesitantly, still looking at his younger members worriedly. "Yamaguchi, lock the doors when we're gone and we'll announce our return." He then turned to the group. "So let's take a few hours. I'd rather we don't stay out for longer periods of time, so let's say... Let's be back for an early dinner. We'll definitely be back before dark. With the sky like this, I'm sure it'll get dark earlier than normal, so let's try to be back here by five or six."

"Got it," the collective acknowledgement rang out strong from all of them.

"Alright, bags, weapons, and two bottles of water per team. Get dressed appropriately and go to the bathroom. Let's meet to leave in fifteen minutes."

"Right!"

The group dispersed to go and get ready. Yamaguchi stood back a bit and watched awkwardly as his teammates rushed around, and then pulled a chair by central command and plopped down on it tiredly. He was hungry and tired and maybe just a tiny bit disappointed that he'd been set aside, once again.

But it would be alright, he told himself, since all of the competent members of the team were going to go out and secure their collective wellbeing.

The competent ones would. And he'd just sit and wait. Again.

"Hey."

"Huh?" Yamaguchi turned his head to face the newcomer, but as soon as he saw that it was Tsukki standing behind him, looking down at him, he turned his eyes to the ground. "Oh. What is it? Did you need something?"

"Why are you acting like this?" Tsukishima jumped straight to the point, crossing his arms. "This isn't the first time we've raided the town."

"But..." The mutilated girl flashed in his mind as he blinked, and he bit his lip softly. "I... I guess I don't have a good feeling about today."

"Your feeling wouldn't have changed if you'd gone instead of me," the blond rolled his eyes. "It's okay. We'll be back before you know it. Play a video game or something. I think the orange-haired midget charged the 3DS last time we had electricity."

"Yeah," Yamaguchi nodded solemnly, not meeting his friend's eyes "I'll do that."

"Good," the blond nodded and began walking away. "Stay put."

Yamaguchi let him go, watching him walk away like he always did, except this time, he wasn't meant to follow.

"Tsukki!" he cried out right before his friend got out of earshot. The tall teen turned around to address the call curiously, and Yamaguchi's fists clenched in determination. "Be safe, okay?"

Tsukishima did not answer, but as he turned his back, Yamaguchi was pretty sure that he saw him crack a smile.

So he smiled as well.

Everything would be alright.

It had to be.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Two hours after the others had left, Yamaguchi had gotten sick and tired of playing Pokemon, and had decided to try and spike some balls when there was nobody around to laugh at his pathetic attempts. However, none of them had eaten lunch due to their morning mishap, and so he was too tired to continue after a mere twenty minutes of jumping around and running after balls.

"Bored..." he complained to himself, looking at the high ceiling of the gym. The lights were not on, as today seemed to be a no-electricity day (just their luck...), but the blood red sky was casting its eerie light in through the large glass panes surrounding the building and illuminating enough of the place. Yamaguchi wondered if he should set out the flashlight for when the boys returned. Maybe he should even surprise them with dinner.

Anything to get him off his feet.

He closed his eyes.

He wasn't sure when he fell into a light doze, but he sure as hell was woken up when a loud clanging sound echoed on the gym's double doors.

Groaning, the young teen got up, ruffling his hair, and headed for the door, putting his hand on the lock that kept the chains wound tightly around the handles.

"Daichi?" he asked in a soft yawn, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

The voice that replied, however, was not Daichi's, nor that of anybody in his team.

And it wasn't anybody in Nishinoya's team either.

"Ah, so there really is somebody in there!"

"H-Hello?" Yamaguchi's eyebrows rose in surprise, and he backed away from the door when it rattled again. "Who is this?"

"Nevermind that. Open the door, punk, or we'll break it down!" The voice replied, followed by the rough sound of people laughing.

"No way!" the teen exclaimed, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. These men made him nervous, and he didn't even know where they had come from. He could peek through the cloth-covered windows at ground level, but he was too afraid of what he'd see. "Go away!"

"Scary..." All noise ceased for a moment, and then the door was shaken roughly, chains clanging. Yamaguchi yelped in surprise and took a few more steps back, mouth dry in nervousness. "Open the fucking door, brat, and we won't hurt'cha... much!"

"You don't scare me!" Yamaguchi cried out, but they did, they did, and Yamaguchi was even more scared for the others, who did not have the luxury of locked doors. What if they returned at that exact moment? What would the men outside do to them?

They'd left him in charge to protect the gym. This was his responsibility. Everybody was out there risking their lives in completing their assignments, and he would be no different.

"You have nothing that can break through these doors, so there! I called your bluff!" The teen cried out, taking a few steps towards the door and willing his heart to stop hammering so loud, lest they hear it all the way from across the door. "Now leave!"

"Or better yet... We'll stay!" The voice on the other side dropped to a dangerous pitch. "We've been watching you, you know. You're not the only survivors in the area, and this school's just perfect as a hideout. And right now, all your friends are gone, aren't they?"

Yamaguchi's blood ran cold. If these men had been watching them all this time... Had they never been safe in the first place?

"We'll wait here and tear them apart as soon as they get within our line of sight."

Oh god, he didn't even know how many they were. Many, by the sound of their hoarse, cruel laughter, and Yamaguchi was going to cry.

"And maybe we'll even leave their corpses on your doorstep for you to admire, just like we did that pretty little girl-"

"Stop it!"

There was a pregnant pause in the conversation between both parties, and then Yamaguchi clamped a hand over his mouth to contain the sobs that wanted to tear out of his throat.

"Stop it," he repeated, getting closer to the door so his feeble voice would carry over. "What do you want?"

"Supplies. Food. You know the predicament. Fork over everything you have," the voice demanded.

"N-No," Yamaguchi shook his head, eyes widening. He wondered if they'd leave if he pretended to faint. Not that he'd have to pretend, if this went on. "I won't give anything to you!"

"Not even a morsel?" the mocking voice echoed in response, and a fist was slammed against the door again. "Don't be greedy. We won't be greedy with your friends when they return, otherwise."

Oh god. Yamaguchi couldn't fathom seeing his friends mutilated and murdered like the girl from yesterday. He didn't think he'd be able to stomach the sight of their strong and charismatic captain, broken and bleeding, or annoying, sunny Hinata without his smile, or his incredibly supportive senpais never again fawning over him, and Tsukki-

Tsukki.

"Okay," he found himself saying, his voice free of stutter. And he surprised himself, because he didn't know he could even manage being so determined. He wondered if his friends would consider him strong.

But they surely wouldn't. He'd given in so easily to the demands of what were essentially a bunch of thugs. He was a disgrace, and... he was pathetic.

Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.

"Just... I'll give you a few things, but I can't get much now," he explained in a quiet voice, setting his aching head against the cool metal door. "I'll give you some of our food, okay?"

"That sure as hell ain't enough. We ain't kids like you lot. Fork over everything."

"No, I... I can't," Yamaguchi swallowed thickly, tears burning his eyes. "The guys will be back by the time I gather up everything. It's a mess in here, you know. If you kill them, I... I'll never open the doors for you, and I'll just flush everything down the drains."

There was a silence where Yamaguchi held his breath. The whole situation felt unreal and he held himself tightly, wondering who would kill him first: these men for not cooperating, or the team, for cooperating.

"Fine. Make it quick. Get everything over," the gruff voice finally decided, and Yamaguchi thanked his lucky stars for the extension to his execution.

"I'll be right back," he announced, and raced away from the door as soon as he could.

And then, he was at a loss of what to do. Would he really give in to their demands and give out whatever meager supplies they had left? The guys were out there fighting to get more food to survive another day, and here he was, throwing their hard work out of the window. He didn't know what to do.

Maybe he could get away with giving them a few cans and hoping they left him alone...

His feet carried him over to their food stores, but as he began looking through their supply of cans with a ball of nervousness tying tighter in his stomach by the second, his eyes fell upon the cooler.

And in a burst of spontaneity, he opened it. And lo and behold, Suga hadn't had the time to throw out their (not-so) fresh foods out yet.

He wondered if the men were aware of the radiation.

And on the off-chance that they didn't...

He'd ran to his own bedding and had taken his sheet off his futon before he could think anymore, and then had raced back to the cooler, throwing all of the remaining fruits, vegetables, pieces of cold meat and slices of sweaty cheese into the sheet. Then, adding in a couple of cans of tuna for cosmetic purposes, he tied the entire thing into a bundle, and then hurriedly climbed down the ladder, almost missing the last few rungs.

Now, to get it to them without opening the door, which would surely end in disaster... Ah!

His feet led him to the back door to the gym, where he pressed his ears to the metal doors for any sounds. Nothing came from the outside, so he knocked gently.

"Hello?" he asked. "If anybody there?"

Nobody replied. If they were pretending, they were doing one hell of a good job. But then again, judging from how rowdy they were at the front door, he didn't think them capable. So he carefully unlocked the chains around the handles and slipped them out, wincing at the noise, and then very cautiously opened the door.

A burst of fresh, warm air hit him in the face, but nothing else did. There really was nobody around, and Yamaguchi was incredibly grateful that his gamble had paid off.

Quickly, he left the bundle by the door and retreated within the safe confines of the gym again, locking the doors with shaky fingers.

And then he stood back, and took a moment to acknowledge the mess he'd made.

But he had no time to lose. He'd come this far and wouldn't back out now.

Running back to the main entrance, he knocked on the door to catch the men's attention.

"So?" the leader replied in the same gruff voice.

"I gave you all the food we had," Yamaguchi tried in his most earnest voice. "It isn't much, which is why the guys left to look for more, but it's all bundled up in a sheet by the back door. Circle the building and you'll see it."

"Good boy," the voice on the other side sneered, and a barking order was given for someone to go get the bundle. "Maybe we will let you live, especially if you'll give us your food like this all the time."

Yamaguchi did not reply, only crossed his fingers that they did not know about the irradiated foods.

It felt like an eternity until the scout came back, and words began being exchanged on the other side.

"You're right," the leader finally spoke up, loud enough for Yamaguchi to hear. The teen's blood ran cold, and he held his breath anxiously. "This really isn't much."

He hoped the small cry of relief that left his lips hadn't been audible on the other side of the doors.

"It's all we had left," he restated in the most submissive voice he could muster. "I'm sorry... Please don't hurt us..."

"Fine," the person on the other side huffed, and Yamaguchi thanked his lucky stars that the men were underestimating them. "We'll leave you alone for today."

"Thank you," the dark-haired teen sighed out in relief, but then did a double-take. "Wait, what?"

"For today, pipsqueak," the voice laughed, followed by the many others. "We'll be back tomorrow for more. Convince your friends to leave again tomorrow and we'll be back around the same time."

"No!" Yamaguchi protested. "You can't have everything we worked so hard for!"

"But we can." A chill ran down the teen's spine at the unspoken threat. "And we will. We'll sit here until you and your friends decide to give us everything or you starve to death in your own shithole of a dump, you hear me?"

"Go away!" Yamaguchi cried out, now too scared to be rational or cunning anymore. His friends were right (if they even were his friends anymore, not after this). He was useless and pathetic after all. "Leave us alone."

"Are you gonna cry to your mommy about it?" And Yamaguchi did cry, because his mother was dead, and his father was dead, and his friends would die when these thugs caught them and he would die with Tsukki's agonized screams in his head, and he was practically a walking corpse already.

"Please leave," he sobbed. "Please leave!"

There was another silence, and Yamaguchi tried to muffle the sobs spilling out of his throat. He was pathetic. Stupid, useless, weak, unwanted, pathetic.

"We'll be back tomorrow," the voice finally warned with a tone of finality. "Expect us."

Yamaguchi cried to the beat of the heavy footsteps heading back towards the school. And he slid against the door and cried until exhaustion let him close his eyes, and in a second he was gone.

He wondered if there was a chance that he would never wake up again.

If there was even a sliver, he would take it.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The teen woke up to the sound of thumping on the door, again, and for a tiny moment, the irrational fear that the men were back for revenge flashed in his mind, jolting him to his feet.

"Oi, Yamaguchi!" The person on the other side of the door called out, and the young man sighed in relief, rushing to the door.

"Captain?" he asked as he fumbled to open the lock on the doors, his senpai's voice muffled by the thick door.

"We're back," Daichi answered, and when Yamaguchi opened the door, he smiled to the first-year. "Come, help us put these things away."

"Welcome back!" Yamaguchi exclaimed in relief, rushing to help Asahi with the bag he had slung on his shoulders. The gentle giant sighed in relief and thanked him before jogging rather comically towards the locker rooms, probably to relieve himself, judging from the little waddle in his jog. Yamaguchi chuckled softly and began carrying the bag in when the captain spoke up again.

"Huh, the others aren't back yet?" Daichi noted as he walked into the gym, dropping his bag and baseball bat. Yamaguchi's blood froze in his veins at the comment as his mind flashed with terrifying images of the other party being ripped apart by the thugs occupying the school, but then he shook his head and shrugged nervously.

"Not yet. They shouldn't be too long." He hoped they wouldn't be.

"Right. Maybe we can get started on dinner then. I'm sure we're all starving," Suga hummed, heading towards the locker rooms to wash his hands.

Daichi voiced his approval and then followed Suga into the locker room. That left Yamaguchi alone, fidgeting nervously.

The lock on the door clicked behind him all of a sudden and Yamaguchi practically jumped out of his skin, turning around to look at the door.

Instead, his eyes met Tsukishima's, the young blond having locked the door before turning to him.

"Calm down, you look like you've seen a ghost," Tsukishima noted, approaching his friend. "Still have that bad feeling, or something?"

And Yamaguchi considered telling him everything and admitting to how scared shitless he was, but then... he couldn't afford to be weak... Not when everybody else was so strong.

"It must be the nausea from hunger," he tried laughing it off, but Tsukki wasn't buying it, clearly. A cold sweat broke on the back of the teen's neck and he averted his eyes. "And you know none of us slept well last night. I uhh... I still see... it... When I close my eyes, I mean," he stammered.

And it wasn't a total lie.

Instead of the girl, however all his terrified mind could imagine was the bodies of his dead friends mutilated beyond recognition.

But Tsukki seemed to buy it and backed off with a sigh.

"Fine. Try to sleep more tonight," he mumbled, and then it was his turn to subtly avert his eyes. "And uhh... if you can't sleep or something, you can talk to Suga or Daichi or... me, or something."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yamaguchi nodded, but they both know he'd go for the latter if he needed anything. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest at the thought of it, but then a rough sneer cut through his thoughts and his heart chilled and froze in place.

_"We'll be back tomorrow."_

Oh god, he couldn't let them lay a hand on his friends.

They were working so hard and putting themselves in danger, and he had to do his share. If his share was lying in order to protect them, then so be it. He had to contribute somehow.

A little later, Suga returned, and they put away all of their newly-obtained supplies in an orderly fashion. It wasn't much either, the shops obviously having been ransacked before the teens got to them, but it was something, at least, to hold them off a couple of days.

"Hey Yamaguchi?" Suga asked as he finished doing the inventory of their canned vegetables. "Where did all of the stuff in the cooler go?"

"Oh." The younger teen froze, and his eyes darted nervously to the door as if he was expecting someone to crash through at that very moment, locked or not. "Uhh... I figured since they were no good, I'd clean up and throw them out."

"Ah," Suga nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer, because he closed the cooler and started stacking boxes of dry pasta on it. "Thank you. However, you shouldn't go outside on your own. We haven't seen anybody in the month we've been here, but that girl from yesterday isn't a good omen. We should all be very careful."

"Yeah." Yamaguchi's tongue felt heavy in his mouth, and he couldn't bear to look at his senpai any longer while blatantly lying to his face. "Sorry. I'll be careful."

Being careful wouldn't help him tomorrow, though. He had to tell somebody, he had to ask for help, he had to tell them they were in danger... It was their right to know... But... They looked too happy to be bothered like this. Too carefree, for the first time in weeks. He couldn't ruin that for them.

"You be careful too, okay, senpai?" he murmured as an afterthought, and Suga only gave him a kind smile that Yamaguchi felt rotten for indulging in.

"Of course. Thank you for your concern. Now, before the hungry wolves in the other squad come back, help me make dinner, alright?"

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Every little noise seemed to jolt Yamaguchi from his light sleep now, and after the seventh time his eyes flew open, only to stare into the darkness, he really, really stopped finding this funny.

"Get over it," he whispered to himself, feeling the rumble of his voice clogged up in his throat. On the bed next to him, Tanaka rolled over with a sleepy grunt and the younger teen froze.

When his senpai settled, he turned onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. The tarp covering the broken part of the roof ruffled in the wind and Yamaguchi took comfort in knowing that he was, in fact, still alive, and still safe within the confines of the gym.

But how much longer until the gym became their prison cell, and then their grave?

He needed to come up with a plan.

But what could he, a simple high school first-year, do about a situation so dangerous? None of them could do anything about it. The men hiding in the school sounded like they were older, rough and tough and hardened by the apocalypse already. In contrast, they were just kids who were trying to cling on to their humanity and keep surviving like abused dogs on the street. In comparison, those men were the pound workers and one way or another, it would not end well for Karasuno.

He wanted to cry, but he'd done enough of that already. But then again, just because he'd already made so many mistakes, it didn't seem to stop him from making any more...

He turned around and dropped his head on his small pillow, the itchy futon underneath him irritating his bare arms. He rubbed the goosebumps away and wished he hadn't given his bedsheet out, but then again, he didn't want to start thinking about everything he regretted. Even the morning light wouldn't save him from those, even if he tried.

"Stop thinking."

Yamaguchi shot up straight at that, forgetting to breathe for just a second before he recognized the voice as Tsukishima's, coming from where he slept on the sleeping bag next to him.

"Huh?" he whispered back, sliding back down on the futon and willing his heart to stop hammering.

"You're too loud," Tsukishima mumbled, and only their proximity allowed the smaller teen to hear him.

"I... I haven't-"

"Do you want to say something?" the blond cut him off, and Yamaguchi suddenly wished for some kind of light source, just to see the expression on Tsukishima's face. He was probably looking at where Yamaguchi's eyes would be in the darkness, and even just imagining meeting his eyes was too distressing. He turned his gaze to the ceiling and sighed.

"W-Well..." The thugs would be back in the middle of the afternoon. They'd demand food again, probably. Maybe even demand more because Yamaguchi had been stupid enough to poison them with the fresh food -stupid, stupid, stupid-. Maybe he should have dipped all of the food in the floor wax they kept in the storage room, maybe that would have gotten them out of the way for good.

But he wasn't a killer. He wouldn't have the guts to do something like that... would he?

Would he do anything to protect his friends? The only people he had left in this cruel, bloody world? Would he give everything he had to save the ones who'd saved him?

The answer ringing in his head was a frighteningly loud 'yes'.

"Nevermind..." Yamaguchi finally sighed out. "I'm still thinking about things I'd rather forget."

There was a sigh, and for a second, Yamaguchi was struck by the irrational, and yet completely overpowering fear that Kei had finally given up on him.

But he wouldn't. He knew that much. And that wouldn't change, no matter what happened.

Tsukishima's sleeping bag made a soft ruffling noise as he seemed to shuffle closer, and Yamaguchi's heart pounded when the noise stopped dangerously close to him.

"You're going to wake up everybody else, and it's been a really long day," the blond mumbled, and Yamaguchi shuddered when a small weight fell on his futon, at waist level. "Just go to sleep."

And Yamaguchi couldn't see him, and he couldn't see the others, but he could hear Kei and he could hear everybody else breathing softly, and the night wind ruffling the tarp and scratching the windows, and maybe the thugs would come again tomorrow, but until then, there was nothing to do but breathe, and maybe even dream.

"Okay," the dark-haired teen finally nodded, relenting a small smile, and slipped his hand into his best friend's proffered one gently, as if afraid. "Good... Good night, Tsukki."

Tsukishima probably thought that he was protecting Yamaguchi from dreaming of the dead girl.

Yamaguchi didn't tell him that he would probably dream of him instead.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

"We're going out again?" Hinata asked, chewing noisily on his breakfast and whining when Kageyama swatted his head.

"What we brought back yesterday will only last us a few days, dumbass. Of course we should go back out again."

"But-"

"Chew before you talk, you're disgusting," Kageyama interrupted him, effectively starting the familiar cycle of bickering between the freaky setter-spiker duo.

"Settle down," Daichi sighed, finishing his meal and setting the can down, spoon rattling. "We'll head out after breakfast and get it over with early. We'll cover the immediate areas we didn't cover yesterday and be back and re-evaluate our supplies as well as the availability in the surrounding areas."

"There wasn't much left on the shelves of any store we saw yesterday..." Asahi noted worriedly. "Are we really gonna find anything today?"

"We'll have to try," Suga sighed, looking at the captain for confirmation. "It's all we can do at this point."

"Right. And we have to do all we can do at this point, cause otherwise, we'll die," Nishinoya added in, putting his plate down just a little too roughly, and the clang echoed off into the large gym.

His words rang true, and everybody knew it.

Especially Yamaguchi.

"Same as yesterday, then?" Tanaka asked, getting up and looking down at Hinata and Kageyama, who seemed to be sulking. "You know, our kouhai aren't all that bad! We make a pretty good team!"

"And Hinata and Kageyama do occasionally have moments of common sense where they work together like a charm," Nishinoya smirked, making the two concerned teens splutter indignantly.

"W-We don't-"

"It's not like we won't do what it takes to survive, you know!" the dark-haired setter clicked his tongue, crossing his arms as if daring his senpai to challenge him. Nishinoya just smirked down at his air of confidence, glad to see that he hadn't given up.

"Yeah," Hinata added, bolstered by Kageyama's quiet acceptance of the claim. "He once promised me that we'd be invincible together and we're still going strong, so there's no stopping us now!"

"... Hinata, that was really stupid."

"W-What!? You're stupid! Bakayama!"

"Tch, don't say my name like that, dumbass!"

"Hah, even after all this time, you still don't know any other insults!"

"Enough, enough," Suga chuckled, then turned to Daichi when the two first-years visibly ignored him. "Should we stop them?"

"Let them be." And instead of exasperation like he expected, Suga found nothing but happiness, and maybe a little wistfulness in the captain's eyes as they lazily followed the first-years' antics.

And he could only smile as well, because in the harshest of times and in the cruelest conditions, Karasuno's spirit would stay united as long as they still were. And it was a strange relief to see that despite the horrors of the outside world, within these walls, they were still the very same teenagers who, so long ago, only wanted to pass school and get to volleyball nationals.

"Let's stop wasting time and get going," Tsukishima was finally the one to bring everyone back to order. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can come back and stop worrying about this issue."

"Don't tell me what to do, four-eyes," Hinata glared without any real venom to his words, but let go of Kageyama's shirt collar anyway.

"Yeah yeah, pipsqueak. Just go get dressed," the blond rolled his eyes dismissively and got up to go do the same.

"Ah, leave me your dirty clothes, everybody," Yamaguchi insisted before they broke apart. "I'll... I'll do our laundry while you're gone, if that's alright."

"Are you sure?" Suga asked kindly. "I know it must get boring around here, but you could switch with someone and go outside instead, if you like..."

But Yamaguchi could only imagine one of his teammates in his place, answering to the violent thugs and quaking in fear, and he didn't wish that upon anybody.

"N-No, that's okay!" he waved them off with a shaky smile. "I'd rather do some work inside. I'm really no good to you guys on the outside..."

"Don't say that, Yamaguchi. You have a heart of gold and anybody would be lucky to have you on their team," Suga laughed, and the dark-haired teen blushed a deep red because everyone was looking at him and laughing as well and he didn't deserve this kind of affection and attention and acceptance, not from the people he'd let down.

"I'll stay here, thank you!" he insisted softly. "Leave your dishes, I'll do them, too. Just go get ready, everyone!"

"Thank you for the meal," the collective cry came, and one by one, the team began disbanding to go get ready. Yamaguchi began gathering the dishes and stacking them, glad to see that no leftovers were on the plates and in the cans. They really couldn't be wasting food, not when Yamaguchi was already giving their stuff away.

He felt sick to the stomach and almost stumbled as he carried the dishes to the buckets of water they used to do the dishes.

"After you do the laundry, wipe the floor when it gets wet," Tsukishima's familiar, soothing voice broke through his thoughts, and Yamaguchi turned around in his crouch to look up at him with a small smile. Tsukishima turned his head, lips set in a frown, and he seemed to hesitate over what to say. "The gym floor gets slippery when it's wet, is all."

"Thank you," Yamaguchi only replied, knowing the implications of his words and loving how they were so typical of the blond's aloof persona. "And you be safe out there."

"Of course," Tsukishima nodded, and glanced at him one last time before heading off to get ready. Yamaguchi watched him walk away for just a few seconds, and then turned to focus on his task at hand.

Until he was once again powerless, he may as well pretend to be useful.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The arduous task of soaking the laundry and then manually washing it with a piece of a foam yoga mat had left Yamaguchi's arms aching by the time he was done. He'd taken the opportunity to clean everybody's bedsheets and pillowcases as well, and so the whole process of soaking, washing, rinsing and straining all of the laundry had actually taken him a few hours.

However, as the hours progressed, and no sound came from the door, Yamaguchi got more and more nervous. What had happened to the thugs in the school? Had they been too sick to come harass him today? Were they still observing the gym like they claimed they had? Had something else happened to them?

Had they gotten mad at Yamaguchi for tricking them and had gone after his teammates?

The possibilities were endless, and Yamaguchi did not like the thought of any of them. So instead, he busied himself with tying a whole bunch of jump ropes tightly together to make a clothesline that he then looped on one of the rails of the middle landing, and then extended to the right landing. He repeated the action with a second set of ropes that he extended from the middle to the left landing, and then prepared himself for the arduous task of carrying all of the laundry up the ladder.

The process itself was hard on his arms and pretty tiring, and so Yamaguchi actually forgot about the thugs until after all the laundry had been hung up to dry. But then, at that point, it was already the afternoon, and the thugs had not come, so he figured that maybe this time, he had prevailed.

And slowly, as the minutes became hours, as the harsh silence inside the warehouse was filled with the sound of light-hearted humming and of a mop soaking up the water dripping from the clothes hung up overhead, Yamaguchi began to think that perhaps he hadn't messed up, just this once. Even the harsh red sky throwing its bloody light into the warehouse did not seem so threatening anymore.

Perhaps, just this once, he'd won.

He was mopping the floor under the drying clothes again when there was a knock at the door, and Yamaguchi immediately turned to it.

"Oi, Yamaguchi!" a voice called out from the other side, and the young man stopped his mopping to go open the door. The light was still high in the sky, and by the looks of it, it was only mid-afternoon, but the guys had left in the mid-morning, so it'd make sense if they came back early, as well. However, as he unlocked the chains, he stopped for a second, because he hadn't recognized the voice.

Maybe somebody had hurt himself? Some kind of injury to the face? Or an inhalation injury?

Only as the chains fell audibly to the ground did he realize that perhaps-

-it wasn't-

Yamaguchi realized his mistake a second too late. As soon as he bent to take the chains off the floor to snap them back over the handles, the door flew open, and a large shadow was cast upon his bent form.

The teen's eyes went wide, almost like a deer caught in headlights, and almost exactly like one, because though he saw the danger coming, he couldn't avoid it.

"Got you now, you little shit."

Maybe this is what he deserved, in the end, for being so pathetic.

In one last act of courage, if he even deserved to call it that, Yamaguchi Tadashi looked into the eyes of his tall attacker as the butt of the gun was slammed into his temple.

He blacked out.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The sun was still high in the sky, and Daichi's watch read 4:07PM when the Karasuno gymnasium came into sight.

"It's so nice out," Asahi sighed. "I'm glad everything went smoothly today."

"Yes, the weather's wonderful," Tsukishima added sarcastically, glancing up at the sky. "I'd die for more of this wonderful latent radiation, you know."

"You don't have a sense of humour after all, do you, Tsukishima," Suga laughed, turning around to grin at the impassive first-year. "Lighten up a little."

"Kind of hard to 'lighten up' when we've basically come to terms with the fact that our town is not viable anymore, senpai," the blond replied with a roll of his eyes, and at that, Suga's smile slowly fell.

"Well, it had to happen someday..." he mumbled, and then turned to Daichi, who was walking a few steps ahead, and who was probably listening to them talk anyway. "But I'm sure Daichi has a plan for us. He always does."

The captain did not respond, but accelerated the pace. It had been a long day, and though the bag on his back was frighteningly light, his worried thoughts were heavy enough to weigh down on his shoulders.

They bridged the gap to the gym in silence, and they couldn't deny the relief they felt upon arriving.

"Yamaguchi? Are you there?" Daichi called out at the door, and waited. All four of them waited, and yet, after a minute, there was no answer.

"Knock? Maybe he's asleep. Laundry isn't an easy chore to do, especially when you're alone," Suga defended, and the captain nodded, doing as he said.

However, as soon as his fist hit the door a third time, the door swung a little on the inside.

Immediate alarm bells began ringing in the teens' minds.

"Yamaguchi?" Daichi called again, putting a hand on the door. To his surprise, and perhaps slight apprehension, the door swung towards the inside again. "We're coming in!"

And they did step inside, all four of them, only to freeze in their tracks. A wave of horror ran down their spines simultaneously as they took in the scene in front of them.

Everything was pristine, just as they left it, except for the message scribbled on the floor, blanketed by the shadows cast by the laundry hanging overhead. It was dry for the most part, except for where it had blurred from the dripping water from the clothes, and it was short, clear, and concise.

"_6PM, will come negotiate"_

And it was written in blood.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

"So? What's up around here?" Tanaka asked as Suga let them into the gym. All eyes immediately went to Daichi, who was mopping the floor quietly.

There was a pink tinge to the puddle on the ground, and there were immediately no illusions as to the etiology of the puddle.

"What happened?" Nishinoya hissed, brows furrowing. "Someone's hurt?"

"Gone," Suga whispered in a scratchy voice, sunken eyes downcast.

"Gone...?" Hinata repeated, uncomprehending, but the third-year setter couldn't seem to say the words he was looking for.

However, one glance around the gym let them draw their own conclusions, and realization dawned on the newcomer party as their eyes fell upon Tsukishima's hunched figure sitting against the wall, Asahi worriedly glancing at him occasionally from his seat by central command.

"No," Tanaka whispered, his throat suddenly going dry.

"It's not... It's not Yamaguchi... is it?" Nishinoya asked for all of them, and they looked at Suga worriedly until the silver-haired teen nodded.

"No... Where did he go!?" Hinata demanded to know, voice raising instinctively with the fear that had started creeping up his veins, slowly towards his heart.

"Shh," Suga prompted him, throwing a worried glance at Tsukishima, who hadn't moved. All eyes went to him as well, and suddenly, the tension had been replaced with a heavy weight in the air.

"What happened?" Kageyama asked in a quiet voice, knowing better than to make a scene in a crisis such as this.

"We don't know. We got here and the door was unlocked," Suga explained as they walked towards central command to leave their weapons. "There was a message on the floor, written in blood, which Daichi cleaned up. It said they'd come around to negotiate around 6PM."

"They?" Hinata asked softly, as if afraid of the answer. "Who are they?"

"We don't know," Daichi's voice drew their attention, and they all turned to face the captain, whose eyes looked more clouded than ever.

If Tsukishima was the most affected by the incident, then Daichi was the second most affected.

And they all gave him the right to that unwanted title, because negotiation meant bargaining through a leader, and he was the leader who'd be bargaining for Yamaguchi's life.

"What are we going to do?" Nishinoya asked worriedly, eyes going from the mop in Daichi's hands, to Tsukishima's curled form on the ground, to the sudden fear in his remaining kouhai's eyes, and then back to Daichi for guidance. "What if these guys are like... veterans or something? What if they have actual weapons?"

"Noya is right," Tanaka added. "The whole 'message written in blood' is obviously a scare tactic pulled right out of some bullshit horror game, but what if these guys are serious? What if Yamaguchi is...?"

"No," Daichi softly answered the silent question that nobody dared asked. "I believe he'll be fine unless we decide otherwise. We can't do anything for now. These guys obviously know where we are, and the door was open so they could have raided the place as well, but they didn't. This means they want something they couldn't get without the rest of us around, and so they need a bargaining chip, like Yamaguchi."

"This is sick," Hinata whimpered, fists clenching. "Why did this happen to us? To Yamaguchi? It isn't fair... None of us have done anything wrong, especially not him."

"I wish the world saw through your eyes, Hinata," Daichi sighed heavily, and then put a hand on the spiker's dirty, matted orange hair. The younger teen looked at the floor, tears brimming in his eyes, and Daichi's heart broke because he could do nothing, apparently, to soothe any of their pain. "However, this world doesn't have rules anymore. We're in the state of nature now, and if we are to follow the theory behind this state of nature, then we must discard our morals and values and survive by any means necessary."

"But we can't just discard our morals... Even if it means we'll die!" Hinata protested weakly, and Daichi actually ruffled his hair a little bit, unsure what else to do to console the small boy.

"We may hold onto them, but they... Whoever they are, they've already let go of their humanity..." He bit his lip and looked at the door as if it would swing open and yield all the answers. "And if we are to stand up to them, we have to treat them as if they have none, too."

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Six o' clock came too quickly, or maybe it came too slowly. Either way, it came, and the team couldn't sit still at all. After all, how were they supposed to relax when one of their team members, one of their friends, one of their _family_ had been taken to be used against them?

"Okay," Daichi finally stood up from his chair, drawing the attention of all the fidgeting teens in the gym. "I'm gonna go stand outside. Show them we're not afraid. You guys-"

"-grab a crowbar, and the bats with nails in them," Noya hissed out, glancing at everybody and seemingly not even caring that he'd cut off their captain. "If they're going to mess with one of ours, we're not going to hold back."

But it was easier said than done, and despite the nodding that answered his words, nobody looked too sure about using those weapons at all.

"You could stay inside. Not everybody needs to come outside," Daichi suggested, but despite the small hesitation that flashed in their eyes, nobody backed down.

"No," Hinata slowly tested the words out, nervously looking at the others for support. "We're Karasuno, and we... we'll always stand together, won't we?"

There were small noises of acknowledgement, and Daichi was actually moved by how afraid, and broken, and courageous all of these kids were.

"Right," Suga replied in his stead, apparently taken by Hinata's words as well. "Well said. We are Karasuno, and we'll never let go of our own."

"Then let's go," Daichi nodded, turning around to go unlock the door. Behind him, Karasuno shuffled into action, grabbing their weapons and quietly whispering between themselves, probably trying to dispel the tension.

Despite the whole thing looking like a scene right out of a movie or a video game, they were all just human, and kids at that, too. There was nothing fun about what they were about to do, and it was going to be terribly dangerous. One of them, or many of them, could die as a result of their actions, or get really hurt.

However, all of these terrifying facts had sunk in, apparently, because when Daichi opened the door, he found all of Karasuno striding out with him, backs straight and gazes firm. As if they were entering the court to play a game against a new adversary.

Except this time, if they lost the game, they'd lose more than just their pride or their reputation. And so, losing was not an option, more than ever before.

There was nobody outside just yet, and so the team silently decided to spread out a little, mostly on the adjacent grassy area. The school loomed ominously over them, and the red sky, now darker with the advancing evening, had never looked so threatening before.

They said nothing, but breathed as if it were the last time they would breathe.

And finally, around 6:14PM, the doors of the school slammed open, and all eyes went there.

All of the teenagers held their breaths as two men walked out, holding open switchblades that looked as threatening as they were meant to be. There was no illusions about the lethal dangers of such a weapon, and in comparison, the baseball bats and crowbars looked a bit pathetic. But it was all they had, and they'd fight 'till the end with all they had.

The two men looked at the teenagers, and the anxiety was practically tangible as the younger side felt scrutinized like pieces of meat set up on display. They had to break the tension somehow.

"Ah, so you came out!" Finally, there was a voice, and all eyes went to the entrance, that was shaded by the shadows cast by the evening sun. "I guess I have to give you lot a bit more credit for your courage. Or is it foolishness?"

"Negotiation insinuates that we speak as equals," Daichi called out. "So show yourself, and bring Yamaguchi back!"

"Right, Yamaguchi," the voice pondered out loud, and finally, there were two silhouettes in the doorway. One of them was tall and well-built, probably a man in his mid-fifties belonging to some biker gang or a bar bouncer, and Karasuno silently agreed that he was imposing as hell. And then, next to him, stumbling and looking rather pathetically frail was their very own Yamaguchi, blindfolded, gagged, wrists tied, and being dragged blindly around by the upper arm.

"Yamaguchi!" Nishinoya cried out upon recognizing his kouhai.

"Let him go!" Tanaka added, bolstered by Nishinoya's call.

"I feel like you two have no idea how negotiation works. Let your leader do the talking and I might just give him back," the man rolled his eyes, finally stepping fully into the light of the dusk. And asides from the numerous scars on his face, asides from the blood on Yamaguchi's face, asides from the bruising grip the man had on Yamaguchi, it was probably the gun in his left hand that was the scariest bit of the picture.

Knowing that they were totally and completely powerless was the worst part.

"Name your terms," Daichi finally sighed, unwilling to pass another second in this man's presence, and even moreso, expose his team to this man's violent whims. "My only term is that you return Yamaguchi to us unharmed."

Said captive immediately began struggling, as if protesting the decision, and Daichi averted his eyes, especially glad that he didn't witness the harsh shake the man gave to his hostage that drew another muffled cry out of Yamaguchi's mouth.

"I've put a lot of thought into my terms, so you better listen well," the man began, letting go of Yamaguchi. However, as the team watched, Yamaguchi did not move a muscle, and immediately they guessed that there was some extra blackmail involved.

In a horrifyingly mocking gesture, the man caressed Yamaguchi's bloody hair and untangled a few of the strands, and with every stroke, the trembles of the young man's body became more and more visible.

"First of all, I request that you hand over all of your consumables," the man began, gently untying Yamaguchi's blindfold. The cloth fell from the young man's eyes, and the team immediately got a look at his teary, terrified gaze at the purplish bruise under his right cheek. Several cries of protest rose, but were calmed immediately for fear of repercussion.

"Done," Daichi replied in a heartbeat, because Yamaguchi was definitely worth a few cans of food.

"Good, I'm glad. Second, I request that you do not leave your little hideout without my permission first," the man numbered off, putting a heavy hand on Yamaguchi's shoulder. The dark-haired boy flinched at the touch and shied away, but a single glance at the gun held limply in his other hand was enough to freeze him in place.

"Why would you ask that?" Suga frowned, seeing that Daichi was busy looking at his precious kouhai's condition. "We're obviously not a match for you, and so aren't a threat at all. There's no point in confining us."

"I've learnt not to underestimate you lot, not after this little shit gave us food that almost killed us," the man glared at Yamaguchi, his grip tightening painfully on his shoulder. Despite the gravity of the situation, a few of the guys couldn't help but crack a wry smirk at Yamaguchi's sense of humour, but the atmosphere became heavier quickly.

"What do you mean, he gave it to you?" Suga asked again, frowning at the marks of abuse visible on the younger boy. And who knew what kinds of abuse had been done that hadn't left physical marks...

"Ah, he didn't tell you the story?" the man feigned surprise. "Well, we dropped by for a visit yesterday, while you guys were out. Yamaguchi here wasn't too kind and didn't invite us in or nothing, but after a couple of threats, he did give us some food. We promised to come back for more, but that was before the food made us sick like dogs." He clicked his tongue in displeasure. "So I figured I'd make better use of him this time. I suppose it worked."

"Alright, so what if we agreed to your terms to stay inside?" Daichi began again. "What benefit would that have?"

"Well, I'd have you lot under my thumb, for one," the man thought out loud, trailing his fingers up Yamaguchi's neck to undo his gag. The boy visibly shuddered at the vile touch, but as soon as the cloth was out of his mouth, he took greedy gulps of air and turned to Daichi.

"Captain! Don't give him what he wants," he pleaded, dried blood smeared around his lips giving him a pretty beaten-up look.

However, before he could continue, his chin was gripped tightly, and he grunted when the grip bruised his jaw.

"Now, now, Yamaguchi... I didn't take your gag off for you to run your mouth like the impolite brat you are," he mock-chided, and then turned to Daichi, whose eyes were steel-cold now. "Which brings me to my next term."

"What now?" Kageyama muttered out, disgust rolling off of him in waves at the state of his comrade. Hinata gently put a hand on his arm to try and calm him down, but Kageyama shook him off with a grunt.

"You see, we're only three in our lonely little hideout in the school. We used to be more, we had survivors like you working for us, but then, well..." He clicked his tongue and let the sentence trail off.

"He was the one who killed her," Yamaguchi sobbed out softly, and everybody knew whom he was referring to. "And she had friends, and he killed them, too! And he keeps their bodies in the school!" Yamaguchi's voice cracked and tears began running down his face. And nobody could blame him as the shocking truth poured out of his mouth. "He's a fucking psycho, Daichi, don't give him-"

"Shh, Yamaguchi, shh," the man warned, and the young man's voice caught in his throat as something cold touched his thigh, and then began running up. And he didn't need to look down to know what it was. He kept his eyes on his teammates' shell-shocked expressions, and bit his lip to keep it from wobbling. "So. My terms are that you take these girls' place. With just three people, I can't afford to deploy anyone to raid the town for supplies. You boys do your job just fine already, so you'd just keep at it, except you'd bring all of your finds to me. And I'd give you a share, obviously."

"No, Daichi," Yamaguchi shook his head desperately. "Don't say yes, please don't-"

"Yamaguchi," the man warned, and the gun trailed up further, cold metal kissing his side and then his arm, and then his shoulder.

"I'm not worth it, Daichi," Yamaguchi sniffled, totally ignoring his captor's warnings. "I've done nothing but cause trouble so far and I can't do anything useful around here, so don't throw away everything for someone like me," he pleaded, and more tears poured out when Daichi's murderous expression never faltered. He wasn't sure if he was glad for the loyalty, or frustrated that they were about to throw everything away for someone like him.

"Yamaguchi," Daichi finally called, and all wide eyes went to their leader for some sort of salvation. Suga put a comforting hand on Daichi's shoulder, and, feeling bolstered by the vote of confidence, Daichi stood taller than before. "Don't ever say anything like that again. You're in pain and in shock, and you don't know what you're talking about."

"I know it! I'll cause more trouble-"

"Yamaguchi!" Daichi warned, and at that, the teen shut up, sniffling pathetically. "Listen to me. You've never been useless. Nobody in our team is useless. We're not like these monsters. We don't throw around one of our own and we don't consider any of us as expendable. You're one of us, you always have been, and always will be. I don't want to hear any more nonsense about not being worth it again."

"But-"

"No objections!" Daichi yelled out, and Yamaguchi froze. "Yamaguchi... Tadashi... It's going to be okay. I promise you it's going to be okay. We're not going to leave you behind. You're coming home with us, no matter what."

And Yamaguchi remembered that whatever the captain promised was a promise that would be fulfilled.

And something tugged in his heart, something he didn't know he had bottled up inside of him. He could hardly even feel the gun pressed painfully to his jaw now or the tight grip on his opposite arm, because he had gotten a pardon that he never should have been entitled to, but Daichi had forgiven him and his team still loved him, and they were fighting to have him back. And he really, honestly did not know how to feel about their blind devotion.

"I-I'm sorry," he sniffled, and then burst into a loud cry. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me, I'm so, so sorry!"

The mantra continued for about another 30 seconds until Yamaguchi had cried a river, and then quieted into small sniffles.

"Now. Your final terms," Daichi turned his eyes away from the younger player, to his captor. "What if I were to refuse?"

"Well then, I guess I'd just have to shoot little Tadashi here," the man replied nonchalantly, and the mocking way he said his first name did not pass unnoticed. There were many clenched fists and gritted teeth, but nobody said a word.

"And what if I accepted your terms?" Daichi asked one last time.

"Then I suppose you'd be free to go," the man thought out loud. "But..." Nonetheless, the gun never lowered. In fact, the man reached out and clicked its safety off, and the ominous sound rang in Yamaguchi's ear forebodingly.

"Stop it!" Hinata cried out, immediately recognizing the situation as an immediate danger, but it was now Kageyama's turn to hold him back.

"Don't antagonize him, stupid!" the setter growled at him, holding his upper arm tightly, but he didn't let go, even after Hinata backed down, and the small spiker gritted his teeth, concentrating on Kageyama's quasi-painful grip on him rather than the situation at hand.

"But, I guess I'd just have to keep little Tadashi with me... For safekeeping, you know," the man finally announced, and Karasuno immediately ruffled its feathers.

"We'd never agree to that!" Daichi spat out. "My terms for yours, and I clearly demanded Yamaguchi's safe return, and this is final!"

"But were you ever in any place to make demands, little man?" the thug laughed as if he was truly amused by the situation. "You're all children still, pretending you can be adults, but truth is, you know nothing. And you can do nothing against us adults! Just accept my demands and you can live in peace!"

"Don't do it!" Yamaguchi cried out one more time, and the gun was twisted further into his jaw.

"Yamaguchi, stop talking," Suga pleaded fearfully, eyeing the man's fingers, so dangerously close to the trigger.

"You monster, let him go! We'll do what you ask if you stop hurting him!" Daichi roared, now beyond the point of civility. Nobody threatened his ragtag band of surviving family this way and got away with it.

"Then I would have no reason to hurt him, if you followed my orders. I'd just keep him with me, and if you're good little dogs, I'll give him a nice bed and food and you wouldn't have to worry," the man cooed mockingly, and anger flared from the group of teenagers. "But if you disobey, well... Maybe I'll carve him up like I did Rena. Or was it Rin? I don't remember her." He shrugged, but then a predatory smirk split his face. "But then, I'll always remember his lovely screams and his glorious tears and I'll never forget my precious, precious Tadashi."

"Stop it!"

All air left their lungs, and time froze. And then, tension began mounting, and mounting, until it was suffocating and nothing they could do could deflate the balloon that was filling up because the balloon was full of burning hot air and it was so, so, so close to bursting-

"I'm tired of listening to you run your filthy mouth, you scum!"

"N-No, wait," Asahi stammered, putting a hand up to try and stop him, but his effort was futile.

Tsukishima had already taken a step forward.

And then another. And another. And another. And cries came from behind him to stop and turn back, but he didn't stop, because Yamaguchi, his best friend for years, kind-hearted and selfless Yamaguchi was being hurt and humiliated and threatened and there was no way he would forgive someone, some_thing_ as heinous as the monster holding his best friend captive.

"You have no right to say his name!" he cried, twirling his bat in his hands threateningly. "You have no right to even touch him! He's a thousand times better than you and you're the dirt under his feet!"

"Tsukishima, come back!" Suga pleaded. "Please stop, I know you're angry but-"

"Suga, this guy has pissed me off way too much!" the blond growled out in an uncharacteristic show of anger.

No. An uncharacteristic show of pure, unadulterated rage that left a chill deep in the observers' bones.

"Don't get involved, kid. I have no use for a hothead like you," the man warned, and Yamaguchi immediately began struggling.

"D-Don't hurt him! Tsukki, stop!" he pleaded, but the grip on his arm dug deep against his nerve, and he cried out in pain.

"Don't hurt him!" But Tsukishima wasn't pleading anymore. He was threatening, his steps crossing miles in his attempt to reach his best friend. "Don't you dare harm him again! You've done enough, so leave before I smash your fucking head in!"

"Tsukishima!" Noya and Tanaka cried out at the same time, noting the two other guys with switchblades advancing, and in the middle of it all, Daichi realized that this was another nuclear bomb in the making.

And it exploded before he even had a chance to try and dismantle it.

"I'm gonna tear you apart, you shithead!" the blond growled out, twirling his bat again. At the same time, the men with switchblades began heading for him, but then Nishinoya and Tanaka were on them with war cries, and all hell broke loose.

"Don't take another step closer or I'll shoot your friend's brains out!" the man threatened, taking a step back and dragging Yamaguchi with him. Yamaguchi struggled with his bound wrists and tried helping Tsukishima out as much as he could, but the gun's safety was still off, and the man's finger was too close to the trigger for it to be safe for anybody.

"Not before I'm done with you, you pathetic excuse for a human being!" Tsukishima threatened, livid with rage, and suddenly, the man realized that he wasn't kidding anymore. And that the tall teen was nobody to be trifled with.

"Fuck this!" the man growled, hooking one arm around Yamaguchi's throat, almost choking him, and then raised his gun at the advancing blond. "You'll be the first one to go, kid! You never should have messed with me!" His finger slid onto the trigger.

"No!" Yamaguchi cried out, struggling with all he had because Tsukki, Tsukki, Tsukki, he had to protect Tsukki- "NO!"

The shot rang out in the air, and Tsukishima staggered back a few steps with a grunt.

Blood splattered on the ground, and all eyes went to him, wide and terrified.

"Tsukishima!" The cries came from everybody witnessing the horrifying scene, but loudest of all was the most agonized, most anguished cry of all.

"KEI!"

Tsukishima turned his eyes back to Yamaguchi, who was looking back at him with wide, pleading eyes dripping with tears, and then looked down at himself.

A patch of red had blossomed on his shoulder.

But then as he recovered from the initial shock and burning pain, he noted Yamaguchi's tied hands wrestling the man's left arm, and he noted how he could still move, and nothing mattered anymore but the fact that Yamaguchi had saved his life. Again.

It was now time to pay him back.

"You're dead to me!" he cried out, and broke into a jog, bat raised.

Several things happened at once at that moment. Noya and Tanaka distracted the other two men long enough for Asahi and Daichi to hold them down against the ground, disarmed. Then, Tsukishima evaluated the angle he'd have to swing his bat to catch the tall man, but not his smaller friend. Then, the man swore softly, and turned his gun back to Yamaguchi's jaw, setting it crookedly against the teen's face, even as the teen tried to wrestle the gun away with his tied hands.

And then, Yamaguchi moved his head to the side, and his finger, not the man's, but his own finger was on the gun's trigger, and his eyes were completely open, determination and fearless abandon, and perhaps a bit of emptiness radiating from underneath the tears.

And everything clicked into place in the span of a second, and suddenly Tsukishima _understood_.

"No, Tadashi, don't do it!" he cried out, but it was too late.

He watched with wide eyes as Yamaguchi pulled the trigger.

The second shot rang out, and this time, it was absolutely deafening, sucking out all the sound in the scene like a vacuum. It was hard to breathe for the seconds that followed before the loud thump of a body hitting the ground brought all sensation back to the witnesses of the scene.

The man's blood splattered all over the ground, a bullet hole carved clean diagonally through his throat, and out right below the opposite temple.

And Yamaguchi still stood, gun clutched in reverse in his tied hands, warm, fresh blood splattered on his head and running down the back of his neck, all over his back and shoulder, and saturating his ruined clothes like a mockery of the laundry detergent he'd used earlier that day to clean the traces of death off of their clothes.

"Oh, god." But it was Tsukishima who spoke first, bat dropping on the ground noisily. He stepped carefully to Yamaguchi's side, and slowly extended a hand to the gun. Yamaguchi only watched him work, eyes blank, and did not offer resistance when the blond pulled the gun away and clicked the safety back on.

And then, the gun had been thrown away carelessly, and Kei's arms were around Tadashi, supporting him as the smaller of the two buckled and fell over.

"Oh my god," the blond kept repeating, tightly holding his best friend against his chest, hot tears dripping down his face and smothering in Yamaguchi's blood-drenched hair. By extension of the intimate contact, Kei's clothes were soaking in the blood as well, as if he was trying to bear as much of his friend's burden as possible.

And yet Yamaguchi was unresponsive to his attempts to communicate.

Behind them, Daichi had gone and picked up the gun with disgust clear on his face, and had looked at the two men with switchblades.

"Leave your weapons here, and get out of my sight. Take your things and leave. We won't harm you if you leave now," he spoke quietly, diplomatically like this mission had been at first, and yet now he wasn't being manipulative. He was simply mourning.

And the men seemed to understand the message conveyed in his eyes, and nodded. Leaving their switchblades untouched, they stood up under careful supervision from the teenagers, and quickly left the scene, glancing back only once at the fresh body on the ground.

And then, as the tension finally diffused, all the gazes went to the blond kneeling next to Yamaguchi, crying as if his apologies and his confessed grievances would someday be enough to resuscitate whatever had just died inside of his friend.

This new world was cruel. And one way or another, it left no survivors.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**I'm taking so many creative liberties with this fic, it's not even funny. Timeline-wise, physics-wise, character-wise... Somebody stop me. The food radiation mutation thing is perfectly sound, though, as DNA sequences can be changed by radiation! And the reason why the guys projectile vomited their dinners rather than pooped it out in the most painful way is because they ate right before sleep (decreased gastric motility), so the food stagnated in their stomachs for a while + the proteins are undigestable, so they can't be broken down in order to enter the small intestine. Voila! It's all real physiology applied to fiction. **

**I read somewhere (I don't remember where, might've been Tumblr) that Yamaguchi would be the first one to crack in a post-apocalyptic world and would be the first one broken by it. I dunno why but I really liked the idea, and so the first kill goes to our precious Tadashi. However, if you're worried, Yamaguchi WILL recover. Maybe not go back 100 percent to what he used to be, but he'll definitely make a good recovery. I'm a sap, remember? **

**Sorry about Tsukishima, I feel like I've written him 110 percent out-of-character this chapter. I really did try, but I had no idea how to make him get angry/break down while remaining in-character. Tips? And again, I know I promised his backstory in this chapter, but it didn't fit, so I'm gonna go with my backup plan, and include it in the next, or following chapter. I'm really excited about that, too!**

**I'm taking a lot of stuff from Fallout: New Vegas for the following chapters (especially as they hit the wasteland later on, oops, spoilers?), so if you want to see anything at all, feel free to make a request by leaving a review or PM-ing me! I'd love to hear any and all your thoughts about the fic. Can you tell I'm in love with this AU?**

**Please review, and I will see you next time! ;u;**


	4. Family

**Author's Note**

**5AM by the time I post this, I am so pumped for a new chapter omg. Sorry about the delay! It wasn't finals or anything holding up this chapter. It was simply the fact that it's, oh, you know, 20.5K WORDS LONG. You might have to read this in two sittings, I am so sorry about this. **

**All of this was written to the Haikyuu!, Free! and Attack on Titan OSTs and lemme tell you, that shit motivates. **

**The main suggestions I got were between Noya's and Kageyama's POVs. So I went with Kageyama this time. Noya is coming! He's my fav, so I wouldn't miss out on writing him~**

**Warnings: Disturbing imagery at a certain moment, hinted KageHina (can be gen or pre-relationship, however you want).**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Tsukishima still had not returned from the showers with Yamaguchi, but the team could not bring themselves to go interrupt them. They themselves had a hard time understanding what had just happened, and it really was at times like these that they were so painfully conscious of how young they all were and how mortal they all were.<p>

"How are you holding up?" And as always, it was Suga who was bending over backwards to try and fix everything, or at least try and hold everything together as long as possible before they fell apart.

"I'm not the one you should be worried about," Daichi mumbled in response, not lifting his eyes to meet his friend's.

"I know you're feeling like this is somehow your fault, though," Suga persisted, sitting down next to the captain on the floor, and then leaning his head against the wall to look sadly at the ceiling. "So you are somebody I should be worried about.

"It was my decisions that led us to that point," Daichi replied softly, looking down at the floor intently instead. His eyes were red, but the third-year setter had not seen his friend cry since the incident, so he could only imagine how painful it was for him to hold in all of his anguish.

"You could not have prevented it from happening." The truth was harsh and cold, but it was also a soothing balm on a fresh burn. "There is nothing you could've done. Those men had us overpowered and no matter what, you could not have helped that this situation happened."

"I should have tried harder."

"It's a good thing you didn't."

At that, the captain finally lifted his eyes curiously, and the setter turned his gaze down to meet his. He smiled at the surprise in Daichi's expression.

"Really. We're all here, and we're all safe, and things have gone completely haywire but we're alive and together." Glancing away, Suga's eyes went instead to their team members, who were trying to keep themselves busy to keep the horrifying memories out of their minds. A fond expression settled on his face. "It's all that has mattered until now. And it's all that will ever matter from now on."

He turned his eyes back to Daichi, who was looking at the floor again, but his frown seemed just a bit less sad and a bit more tight now.

"As long as we're together," Suga reminded him again, and he would continue to remind him until the day he died. "As long as we are united, there is nothing that will be able to break us."

To that, Daichi only sighed, and blindly slipped his hand into Sugawara's to feel his grip grounding him to this hellish reality of theirs.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

That night, it rained for the first time since the explosion. The dry, almost aggravating air that had burned their nostrils until now suddenly became humid, and smelled tangy a little, like metal. The tarp kept most of the water out, but whatever soaked through drip-drip-dripped down to the gymnasium floor, and the soothing sound of raindrops outside and inside finally lulled them all to sleep.

It did not last long for some.

In the middle of the night, Kageyama shot up from his sleeping bag with a strangled gasp, suddenly aware that he was suffocating. His voice caught in his throat and he clutched at it, eyes wide and scared, and clawed softly as if it would help dislodge whatever was in his windpipe. The fabric of his bedding rustled noisily as he briefly scrambled around in panic before air flowed back into his lungs at once, and he began settling.

Taking three deep breaths, with each and every one of them he repeated to himself what he'd been repeating to himself all this time.

_My name is Kageyama Tobio. I am in the Karasuno gym with my friends. I am safe._

His breaths heaved as he tried to calm down, and he repeated the information in his head one more time before he felt his heart relenting and beginning to slow to a normal rhythm.

Lying back down with a heavy sigh, he briefly glanced around him to make sure that he hadn't woken anybody with his relatively loud panic attack. Of course, people had become tragically used to their peers waking up in cold sweat in the middle of the night, and now, hardly anyone stirred when someone had a nightmare, unless their awakening was particularly violent. He supposed that it was because they trusted one another to discuss their nightmares willingly come morning light, if they felt the need, but that in itself was wrong.

At least for Kageyama it was.

His hands hadn't stopped shaking. Sighing, and finding no solace behind his closed eyelids, he sat up and pushed his body out of the sleeping bag, standing up. He carefully walked around Noya, who was curled up next to him, and then over Tanaka, who had his limbs spread out next to Noya, and did not even glance at the empty spots where Tsukishima and Yamaguchi usually would sleep. However, when he passed by the curtained medical bay, he held his breath and listened for signs of life within.

There was nothing, not even an audible breath, and Kageyama did not know whether or not to take comfort in that. But he moved on. They all had to.

His feet carried him down the ladder, past central command, and into the hallway leading to the locker rooms. He figured he may as well splash some water on his face and clean off the stench of fear that seemed to cling to him permanently.

Upon entering the boys' locker room, though, he stopped to the sound of sniffling. For a moment, he listened, but soon he recognized the voice softly whimpering between the sniffles, and he stepped forward.

The teen did not stop him, and Kageyama wondered if he was even aware that there was another person in the room with him. He only stopped next to him and plopped down tiredly on the bench.

"Hey," he sighed. "Stop crying. You need to get back and get some sleep."

"Shut up," was all the boy next to him choked out, rubbing his eyes. "I could say the same to you."

"Huh." Kageyama shrugged, and crossed his arms, looking in front of him with his usual tight-lipped expression. "Then at least stop crying, dumbass. I'm not crying, am I?"

The boy sniffled and let out a small laugh, rubbing his eyes and finally looking up. Kageyama met the light brown eyes with his own and was maybe slightly relieved that they still had their usual life sparkling in them.

"You're terrible at comforting people, you know that, right?" Hinata smiled sadly, sniffling loudly as the tears finally stopped.

"Yeah well, whatever." Kageyama huffed and looked away, embarrassed. However, Hinata had stopped crying. He was grateful about that, at least.

"So why are you up, too?" Hinata asked after a bit of silence.

"Why do you think?" Kageyama bit back, hoping Hinata wouldn't make him say it out loud.

He didn't.

"Ah. Well, me too. Did you... Was it about what happened?" The spiker's voice had lowered slightly, and he was not longer looking at Kageyama, but at the ground.

"Hmm."

"I saw my mom. And Natsu." Hinata let out a shaky sigh. "How I lost them."

"I see." But Kageyama didn't. Kageyama had no right to speak about such things.

Because he had not lost his family in the apocalypse.

In fact, he'd never had one in the first place.

"You know, I was sure that we'd make it," Hinata continued, a wistful smile gracing his lips. His legs swung above the ground idly. "My mother always said that the night was darkest before dawn and that come morning light, we'd be safe and sound."

And Kageyama suddenly felt sick, and inhuman for bearing witness to Hinata's confessions. When he spoke, the setter felt like he had no right to hear what he had to say.

But the king of the court was greedy and selfish, two things about him that he had tried, and apparently failed to bury. So he answered. He answered although even the silence would have been too good for him.

"They're in a better place now."

"You're just saying that."

"Well, think about it," Kageyama sighed. "They're not here. They don't have to be scared or cold or hungry or insecure about their futures. And they... they went together. So they're not even alone."

Hinata seemed to mull over his words, and then let out a watery chuckle, sniffling one last time.

"You still suck at comforting people. But I guess you're right. I can't imagine Natsu having to live like this." His eyes had a pained look to them and the setter hated that look on the bubbly orange-head. "But mom... Mom could have made it. She's really smart and resourceful, I'm sure she could have..."

"But would you leave Natsu alone in the afterlife?"

"That doesn't mean my mom had to die, too. And if she's with Natsu, why couldn't she have been with me?" The question was asked in a whisper, as if Hinata was ashamed of even thinking of it.

"But Natsu needs her," Kageyama decided to answer, knowing that he was tiptoeing on eggshells. "You have me. And uhh... me, and us, I mean! The captain and Suga and Asahi, and our senpais, and even that annoying Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. You're not alone, so... It's okay." Kageyama thought of leaving it there before he made an even bigger fool of himself, but Hinata was still frowning and he absolutely hated that look on him. So he kept going. "None of us will ever replace your mother and your sister. However, you shouldn't doubt even for a second that we could be your new family."

And Kageyama didn't know how he did it, but Hinata cracked a smile. It was small, it was pained, but it was there, and suddenly he had no more words.

"Thanks, Bakayama. You're surprisingly considerate when you want to be."

"Don't call me that," the setter huffed. "You're the stupid one here, dumbass."

"Yeah." Hinata's tone wavered again, and Kageyama cursed himself for letting the neutral mood sink. "I guess I was a little bit stupid. To think that we'd all make it out alive."

He didn't know what to answer to that. Silence fell between them, disrtorted slightly by the rain pattering outside, in the distance. Thankfully, Hinata continued after a while.

"I held her hand, you know."

"Huh?"

"My mom's." Hinata wasn't looking at him anymore, but at the ground. "It was like... sticking out of this pile of rubble, and I was there for a long time, so... At some point, I held her hand, and it was cold and stiff, but I don't know... I guess it built up the desire to live inside of me. Even in death, she's always encouraging me to go forward," he chuckled softly, but now his tone was nostalgic and wistful as opposed to sad.

But Kageyama still couldn't relate.

After all, when was the last time he'd seen his mother's hand, let alone held it? He didn't even remember her encouraging him to pursue his dreams, ever. Maybe once, in passing, but it might've been something meaningless, something that would definitely not be as heartfelt as something Hinata's mother would say. Kageyama could not say that his parents ever instilled the desire to live inside of him. However, he could say that they unconsciously made him want to grow stronger, stronger and more independent and less likely to chase after mirages, like the illusion that had been his family.

"I'm glad she helped me move on," Hinata sighed, and then smiled at the ceiling. "I miss her, but... I know we'll meet again someday. In a long time, maybe, but I'll see her again, and when I do, I'll thank her for helping me through thick and thin."

"Yeah." He didn't miss his mother, or father, as a matter of fact. He'd long since gotten used to spending time apart from them. He didn't even think they'd meet in the afterlife, knowing their free spirit. And if they did meet, Kageyama would have nothing to say to them.

He never had anything to say to strangers, anyway.

"I'm sure she'll appreciate it," he finally decided to say, because he figured it was the right thing to say.

Apparently it was. Hinata grinned at him, and stood up, a small bounce in his step.

"Thanks, stupid. Are you okay after your nightmare, though?"

"Fine," Kageyama insisted, huffing. He couldn't even remember that his nightmare was about anymore, either, so it didn't matter.

"Cool. So I'm gonna head back to bed. Do you want to come?" Hinata asked, and Kageyama found himself nodding.

"Don't trip in the dark or anything. Last thing we need around here is a broken nose," he sighed, and stood up to follow Hinata through the dark hallway.

The nightmare really had faded from his mind, and he slowly felt the exhaustion sinking back into his bones with every step he took. He didn't even need to splash water on his face to wash off the scent of fear anymore. Just being near Hinata seemed to be enough.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

That morning, over a small breakfast of tuna and beans, the mood was somber and quiet. It may have been because the team remembered last night's events, or it might've been due to Daichi's previous announcement of their plans for the day.

"So..." Noya broke the silence first, putting down a half-eaten can of tuna, all appetite suddenly lost. "Just to be sure I heard right... Does this mean we can't stay here anymore?"

"This town is not viable anymore, like I said," Daichi sighed in response, knowing how much it hurts everyone to hear these words. "We're gonna try to gather as many supplies as we can one last time, and then we're going to think about moving."

"But we're safe here," Asahi murmured, sloshing the beans around the can idly. "We don't know what's out there..."

"But we do know what's waiting for us here," Suga answered instead, always as diligently taking Daichi's side. "It's certain death. This town doesn't have any more supplies to give us and sooner or later, we would have had to go in search for help. So we may as well do it now."

"Where will we go, then?" Tanaka asked, a crease in his brow the only thing disrupting his otherwise cool-looking expression.

"We don't know yet," Daichi shrugged. "I was going to look over it. My suggestion was heading towards Tokyo since most relief efforts would probably be centred there..."

"But we don't know where the bomb dropped. What if Tokyo is ground zero, and we start heading towards someplace that's even less viable than here?" Hinata asked worriedly, looking up at Daichi as if he'd have all the answers.

"We have to take that chance." Daichi bit his lip. "I don't know what we're getting ourselves into, either, but we've made it this far, so we at least have to try to make it further."

There was another silence, this time punctuated by the scraping of utensils on the bottoms of cans and the slight sounds of disgust made as the team tried to swallow the tasteless food as quickly as possible.

"Well, as always, spoken like a true captain," Noya finally acquiesced, and Daichi's face became an interesting shade of pink.

"Well, it's not like I did anything special. I'm just looking out for the team."

Smiles replied to his modest answer, but deep down they all knew that Daichi's leadership was one of the strongest bonds keeping them together.

"So who's going out?" Tanaka asked, putting down his empty can. "I could definitely go with Noya again."

"Daichi and I will probably stay in to start planning our move," Suga looked to the captain for confirmation, and got a nod.

"I can stay to start packing up if you need me to," Asahi suggested.

"We can go," Hinata volunteered, pointing at Kageyama.

"Don't volunteer me without asking," Kageyama repeated for what felt like the thousandth time, but didn't really mind either. Fresh air would do him some good. And also, there was no way that he was letting Tsukishima go, no matter how much he butted heads with the guy. Yamaguchi still hadn't said a word since yesterday, and the blond was the best person to have around to help him cope.

"Then it's settled. Where are we headed?" Noya asked, giving an encouraging thumbs up to his kouhai.

"The furthest edges of downtown. It's a couple of hours of walking but it's not like we've got anywhere else to be," Daichi chuckled. "That's a mixed commercial and residential sector that we haven't gone through yet, only because it's so far from us. But we don't really have a choice now, so..."

"That's fine. We'll get whatever we can and come back as soon as possible." Noya stood up, looking at his partners for the raid. "Let's go get ready."

"Yes sir!" Hinata exclaimed enthusiastically, apparently glad to have an opportunity to stretch his legs, and jumped out of his seat to take his dirty dishes to the kitchen corner.

"Let's bring back a year's worth of stuff so that we never have to leave our home here," Tanaka added boldly, getting up to follow Hinata.

"That'd be the life," Noya laughed, following Tanaka as the pair easily joked.

That left Kageyama to contemplate the empty can in his hands silently, unreadably. He knew Suga was looking at him, probably with a mixture of worry and confusion as he always did, and immediately got up to escape his scrutinizing gaze. As he walked, there was an impending sense of danger that licked at his heels and bogged down his steps, but he brushed it off.

"Hey Kageyama, hurry up!" Hinata called, and the setter looked up at the ball of sunshine waving at him. Though Hinata was grinning wide, Kageyama felt his heart tighten in his chest until it felt like his circulation had stopped entirely. There was a cold feeling in his fingertips and toes and he hated how ominous it felt.

"Worry about how slow you are, stupid," Kageyama called back, and turned around to go gather his things as soon as he could. His team members' eyes were on his back as he left, but he shut them out.

He didn't like where this was going.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

"It smells weird out here," Hinata complained as they set out, walking away from the gym with the rest of the team watching them leave from the doorway.

"Smells like metal," Noya acknowledged. "And it's humid. Gross. I feel like my hair is going to frizz."

"With the amount of gel you put in it, I highly doubt anything would be able to ruin your hair," Tanaka joked, starting a small squabble between the two. Kageyama only half-listened to them, eyes set on the horizon and hands tight on the straps of his backpack. Something felt awfully wrong out here, and he didn't like it.

Kageyama was no expert, thankfully, but he could swear that the air smelled like blood.

The ominous red sky, clouded over heavily with grey, did nothing to appease his worries.

The neighbourhood around the school was familiar, and so none of them really paid attention to their surroundings as they walked past the empty, broken homes and the abandoned streets. They made small talk, although it was mostly between Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Hinata, and slowly, the familiar landscape turned a little less familiar. However, it was still their home town, so although they got confused here and there, they didn't really get lost.

About three hours later, finally, the surroundings became unknown to them.

The area was not one of much interest to them. Even before the war, it wasn't an ideal place for teenagers to go hang out, since it was mostly a mix of houses and small businesses on the other end of the downtown area from the school. However, now, as their final salvation, it felt like a godsend when the cramped downtown streets became smaller, but quainter-feeling paths lined with small town houses and occasional businesses.

And it was only at that point that the four finally took the time to look around them. And perhaps not immediately, but gradually, alarm bells began to pop up in their minds.

The houses, the stores, the cars, the bicycles... They were...

"Is it just me, or did something weird happen around here?" Tanaka mumbled, glancing around suspiciously. His comrades mimicked the move, trying to pinpoint what exactly their bad feeling was about, but nothing they could see felt out of the ordinary.

"Well, I mean, unless you're just now noticing how everything's deserted," Noya shrugged, eyes peeled for whatever was making all four of them apprehensive.

"Funny, Noya. I mean it."

"I sense it, too," Kageyama interrupted before the two could start bantering again. "Like there's something here that shouldn't be here."

"Stop it, Kageyama. That's seriously freaky!" Hinata exclaimed, shuddering. His mind conjured fleeting shadows around corners, eyes observing them through cracks and whispers in the wind, but he knew none of that was real. The danger they were facing, though, whatever it was, was very real.

"Okay," Noya sighed, stopping them in the middle of a deserted crossing. "Whatever it is, it's not out in the open yet. So we're going to have to be careful, but it's already around noontime, so we can't waste any more time worrying. Let's split up and immediately start collecting what we can and get back as soon as possible."

"Right," the remaining three nodded, and out of reflex, Tanaka took a step towards Noya whilst Hinata took a step towards Kageyama.

"Let's do opposite sides of the street," Noya continued. "Two by two, Ryu and I will take the right side, and you two take the left."

"Got it," the two first-years nodded. "We're off, then."

"Holler if you need help," Tanaka reminded them as he and Noya headed off towards houses on the other side of the street.

The two teams entered their respective houses simultaneously.

Unlike what they entailed, raids were often mostly quiet. They involved breaking into a house or business, going straight for the kitchen and loading up on consumables, as well as other items if necessary at the time, and then getting out quickly to move on. They were rarely eventful, and the only reason why people were so apprehensive about them was that you never knew what to expect in houses. Once, Asahi had almost been shot by an old man whose house they'd broken into unknowingly, and who had refused to listen to them. After they were out of danger, it was a pretty funny adventure to retell, but in the heat of the moment, when adrenaline ran high and nothing but the sight of a gun aimed at them mattered, it was a pretty frightening experience for a bunch of teenagers.

And then, there was that one time where Tsukishima...

"Let's move to the next house," Kageyama grumbled, refusing to look at the shadowy corners of the abandoned house lest he find something in them that he did not like.

"Yeah, I'm done here," Hinata nodded and silently followed him out. Just as they entered the next house, their senpai came out from their first and mimicked their move with a slight nod of their head to indicate that they were fine. The younger duo waited for the confirmation before Kageyama turned the knob on the door. It was locked, so they had to resort to smashing through the first floor window. At least with all the power cut, there was no chance of an alarm going off.

And yet, no matter how smoothly things went, Kageyama still couldn't shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong. His palms and fingers tingled almost painfully the longer he went on, and even though Hinata seemed to have calmed a bit, he still was on his toes about whatever felt wrong.

A couple of hours must have passed before the four of them met again, to this time tackle the businesses.

"Did you guys find anything useful?" Tanaka asked as they made their way to the main commercial street. "Our houses were kinda empty. Seems like everyone planned in advance to take their stuff and leave. This sucks."

"We've got enough for a day or so," Noya estimated. "About 30 cans. Three meals a day for nine people, and some leftover."

"Approximately the same here," Kageyama clicked his tongue in discontent. "We've got a bit more, but a lot of the cans aren't edible on their own. Like tomato paste and olives, and stuff like that."

"Damn," Nishinoya frowned. "This isn't turning out to be a good haul. My backpack's already pretty heavy with all these cans, too, so we don't have place for much more."

"We'll dump whatever is less worth it," Hinata suggested. "Like if we find shredded chicken, we can throw out the tomato paste because chicken makes better sandwiches than tomatoes!"

"You're way too enthusiastic for someone who can't even stomach bread," Kageyama huffed, rolling his eyes. "Let's stop goofing around and keep moving. The commercial establishments will have more for us, hopefully."

"Good call," Nishinoya nodded, and led them on. Hinata trailed after his senpai with a spring in his step, and Kageyama watched Tanaka follow them both, scratching his right palm intently. By reflex, Kageyama began scratching his hand as well, and then narrowed his eyes. He lifted his palms to his face and looked at them closely.

His right palm seemed to be a bit redder than the left.

"Tanaka," he called, taking long strides to join his senpai. The spiker turned around and slowed so Kageyama could catch up, and they walked together after their smaller comrades. "May I see your hands?"

"Huh?" the older teen uttered, puzzled, but nodded and showed him his hands. Kageyama turned them over to look at his palms, and surely enough, his right hand was slightly red as well.

"What is this?" the setter mumbled under his breath.

"What are you talking about?" Tanaka asked out loud, grabbing their teammates' attention.

"What's up?" Noya asked, waiting for them to catch up and looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

"May I see your hands? Both of you?" Kageyama asked again, drawing confused looks from the other two.

"Did you finally lose your mind, Kageyama?" Hinata asked, frowning as he stuck out his hands, and the setter noted that they looked perfectly fine. Hinata did not seem to scratch them, either, so whatever it is that he and Tanaka shared, Hinata didn't have it. Noya didn't seem to have it, either, and he let them retract their hands without a word.

"What was that about?" the libero asked once they began walking again.

"Your hands aren't itchy or hurting, right?" the dark-haired teen asked.

"No."

"Then... what have Tanaka and I been doing that you two haven't?" he wondered out loud.

"Nothing, really... We've all been doing the same thing so far," Hinata answered. "I mean, we just go into houses or break in if we have to, gather stuff from the kitchen and then leave the way we came."

Kageyama thought for a while, replaying all of the sequence in his head a couple of times, before slowly, a bizarre, but plausible answer came to mind.

"Nishinoya," he called, grabbing the libero's attention. "Do you ever go into the house first?"

"Huh?" Nishinoya raised an eyebrow, and then turned to look at his partner. "I don't... think I do. I don't really think about it. Ryu usually opens the doors or breaks the windows because he can hit harder."

"Then that must be it." Kageyama nodded, lips set into a thin line.

"Being gentlemen is giving us a hand rash?" Tanaka exclaimed, not really understanding.

"Opening doors," Kageyama mumbled, taking a look around him. "The knobs and handles. They're irritating our hands."

He glanced around, as if looking for an explanation, and suddenly, it all made sense. His sharp eyes caught onto tiny details he'd never considered until now. It all felt so analytical, and strangely nostalgic, as he felt the same way he felt in volleyball matches when he sized up his opponents. And just like in volleyball, all the intricacies of his environment suddenly came together and the answer popped up in the forefront of his mind.

The metallic smell. The stuffy feeling. The irritated hands. The humidity.

The house railings peeling. The cars looking faded. The road signal poles rusting over.

"Do you think..." he began, taking in every single detail around him meticulously. "Do you think that the rain that came down last night might have been acid rain?"

"Acid rain!?" The reply came from the other three at once, loud and incredulous.

"I mean... It's not a stretch if you think about it. The sky's been looking weird so far since the explosion. If the radiation mutated all the fresh food, couldn't it have... poisoned the water, or something?"

"Kageyama, you're so confusing," Hinata complained.

"Suga or Daichi or Tsukishima would probably be a better bet than me to confirm this theory," Nishinoya conceded, pensive. "But I guess... it does make sense. You two are the only two who have been touching things that have been in contact with the rain, and your hands are red and itchy. It makes sense."

"Damn it. This is annoying," Tanaka clicked his tongue in displeasure, itching his hand. "We'll have to be careful from now on. And if it starts raining, we'll have to find shelter as soon as possible."

"Alright. If we pass by a clothing store, let's try and grab some gloves as well," Nishinoya decided, leading them on. "And let's definitely tell the captain when we get back. We'll have to consider the rain when we start moving!"

The grim reminder of their imminent departure weighed heavily on their minds as they made their way towards the commercial street, but somehow, Kageyama felt like the dread was only getting worse.

They weren't out of trouble yet.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

To their relief, the stores yielded more than the houses. Of course, they'd been completely ransacked, but a meticulous check of every aisle in the small corner stores and pharmacies gave them a respectable amount of canned goods and even some medical supplies. Suga would be happy with their finds, at least.

Their bags were heavy by the time they left the third store they hit, but they all knew that the weight was deceiving. With the number of people they were, they would probably last a few more days on what they'd gathered so far. Nishinoya had also broken off at some point and then returned with several pairs of worker's gloves from a hardware store down the street, so that they could work without fear of touching the contaminated surfaces.

A couple of hours later, in the mid-afternoon, they were finally done.

"So what have we got in total?" Nishinoya asked as they all checked their bags for inventory.

"I've got food and some random medication I grabbed off the shelves," Hinata reported, looking through his things.

"Food, and I also grabbed some clothes from the sports store on the corner," Tanaka added.

"Mostly food and hygiene products, as well as bandages, some antiseptic, and things that looked important and that Suga could probably recognize better than me," Kageyama counted off, swinging his backpack on his shoulders again.

"Right. And I've got food, nine pairs of gloves, a hammer and some big nails, rope, and a couple of tarps. Hopefully, we can use these like tents when we start moving out," Nishinoya finished.

"Good thinking, Noya!" Tanaka gave him a thumbs up as they all zipped up their backpacks and began walking again. "Now. Let's head back. We'll be back in time for dinner at this rate!"

"I wonder what we're having," Hinata sighed out dreamily. "Tempura, I hope. Or maybe we're mixing it up and having steak. Oh, but I really want yakisoba... And taiyaki for dessert!"

"You're asking for too much, Hinata," Kageyama sighed, rolling his eyes, but then saw the dejected look on Hinata's face.

Of course. Of course Hinata knew he was asking for too much. But then again, Kageyama could have let him dream for a moment. That moment of peace wasn't asking for too much.

He suddenly felt really guilty.

"I know. It's alright. Maybe we can have cream of chicken soup instead," he finally sighed, a small smile touching his lips, but the roiling in Kageyama's gut didn't stop in the least.

"Oi, dumbass," he muttered, instinctively stepping closer to Hinata's side to keep their conversation away from their senpai. They'd probably laugh at him if they heard what he'd say next. "Just... sorry. Keep dreaming, okay? You're the only one who still can, and..." A red tint touched his cheeks, and he looked away from Hinata's surprised gaze. "...we need somebody like you."

"Huh?" the orange-haired boy stuttered dumbly, but slowly, the blush on Kageyama's face registered, and a shit-eating grin split his face. "Oh, what's this? The King is actually apologizing to me?"

"What are you laughing about?" Tanaka asked from a few steps behind them, and Kageyama turned to glare at him murderously.

"Nothing! Hinata's being stupid."

"You keep saying that, Bakayama!" Hinata stuck his tongue out at him childishly, and jumped away with a laugh when Kageyama made a move to grab him by the shirt and shake him.

But he was relieved. That Hinata's innocence hadn't been stolen away, despite the horrors of this world.

"Let's just go home," he sighed, and his strides became longer until his tall legs were leading the march down the street.

"Hey, wait!" Hinata patted his arm to get his attention. "One last pit stop here. Look!" he pointed at a crumbled building that looked like it was about to collapse.

"What am I looking at?" Kageyama asked, raising an eyebrow dubiously at Hinata's enthusiasm.

"A health store!"

"One of those hipster stores that sell all these herbs and seeds and natural products?" Tanaka asked, looking at the small shop stuck at the foot of the small building, which might've been an apartment complex on top of businesses. "How do you even know?"

"The sign is all broken up, but see, you can see the word 'Health' right there," Hinata pointed at a large sign that had fallen to the ground and broken, leaning against the wall.

"That building is in terrible shape, though. I bet even just opening the door would make the entire thing come crashing down," Kageyama protested. "Let's move on."

"But Kageyama!" Hinata insisted, pouting. "Imagine how useful it would be to get all these... healthy things! We'd all be in better shape and have more energy, so it would be awesome if we could bring some stuff back."

"Kageyama is right, Hinata," the other spiker crossed his arms, looking at the building. "The shocks got that building hard. It looks really dangerous to go in there."

"But Hinata is right on the fact that supplements are what we desperately need right now, especially since we're not getting an appropriate diet," Nishinoya piped up, looking like he was mulling things over. "Although that building does look really precariously balanced..."

"Well if we have to bring home a box of vitamin tablets and a dead body, I don't think anybody will consider it helpful," Kageyama huffed. "Let's go."

"No way," Hinata crossed his arms. "We've been in crumbling houses a lot of times before, and we've been super careful. Nothing has happened." He looked to Noya for support. "Nishinoya and I are really small and light, so I bet we could get in there, grab some stuff, and get out without disturbing anything at all!"

"It is true that Hinata and I have handled all the delicate infiltrations before," Noya thought out loud.

"You're not actually considering this, Noya?" Tanaka gaped incredulously. "It's a bad idea!"

"Come on, senpai. It'll be a huge help if we pull it off," Hinata puffed his cheeks out, playing the 'senpai' card to draw Nishinoya to his side.

"If you pull it off, you said it yourself, dumbass!" Kageyama groaned in exasperation.

"I meant 'when we pull it off'! Obviously!" Hinata glared at Kageyama. "You're just jealous because I can do something you can't!"

"Are you kidding me...?" A vein popped on Kageyama's forehead. "You're such a child! I'm just looking out for you, here."

"Yeah?" Hinata stuck his fists at his sides defensively, tensely. "Since when have you cared?"

"W-What?-"

"Alright, alright, that's enough!" Noya interrupted their slightly aggressive argument by putting a hand in the air. "Hinata and I will go in, briefly, and grab the first things we see. You two stay out here and count five minutes, then call us out. Keep an eye on the building in case it does start looking dangerous."

"Are you sure?" Tanaka looked indecisive, but Noya didn't.

"I'm sure. We need these supplements, especially since we'll start moving from now on, and we have to try and get them, if nothing else."

"Alright, senpai! Let's do it!" Hinata punched the air, skipping towards the building.

"Urgh..." Kageyama followed, massaging the bridge of his nose tiredly. Right now, all he felt was anger at Hinata's attitude and some exhaustion at their circumstances, but nothing could overpower the intense clenching feeling he had in his gut. It left him nauseous and he could feel his heart throbbing in his throat, but although the situation was dangerous, he must be overreacting.

"Noya knows what he's doing," Tanaka assured him as they accompanied the two smaller members to the door, but Kageyama could see his shaky confidence as well.

"Just be careful, you two!" Kageyama sighed, not even caring about their individual statuses anymore. He just wanted his friends to be safe.

"Don't worry, Kageyama. Leave it to your senpai!" Noya gave him a thumbs up, carefully opening the door and observing the building for a second.

"And trust in me. You always have," Hinata added, and glanced at him briefly before turning his head, and walking in.

Kageyama wanted to remind him that he trusted him more than anything in the world, but the words felt too foreign on his tongue so he swallowed them, and stepped back to count five minutes.

Inside the store, the two small teens split up immediately, Noya going into the few aisles and Hinata immediately going for the counter. There was a bizarre smell in the air, stuffy and slightly unpleasant, but Hinata figured that it was some kind of healthy product smell. He first grabbed all the healthy-looking things he could find on the shelf facing the counter, and did his best to stuff them in his bag. It was heavy, but manageable, so he also stuffed in some protein powder, but only the smaller containers that would fit somewhere in between the cans of food.

"How is everything going?" he called out to Noya as he walked to the counter.

"Good. I've got a lot of stuff that can be added to food in cooking so Suga will be happy," his senpai called back to him, and Hinata was proud of his idea. Maybe he could finally contribute to their survival properly, instead of mooching off their resources like he felt he was doing all this time.

"I'm gonna go see if there's anything behind the counter," he informed him for the hell of it, and then went around the counter to open the door that led inside.

However, when he did open the small door, he was faced not with the sight of herbal medication, but with the sight of something much more gruesome.

A dead body, that of an old man, obviously a few weeks old, laying propped halfway against the counter and staring right at Hinata with its dried up, rotted eyes wide open.

Hinata's scream echoed across the entire store.

"Hinata!" Nishinoya called him from the back, but Hinata's heart was pounding loudly in his ears, and a cold sweat had broken on the back of his neck, and he was stumbling, falling back, away, away, away from the putrid body. The smell of rotting meat just then assailed his nostrils and nausea welled up in his throat like tears welled up in his eyes.

His foot suddenly hit something that had fallen to the ground and Hinata's ankle twisted, sending him falling backwards with another, fainter cry. His head hit the shelf behind him before he slid down, and as he lay dazed and struck by inexplicable horror, the shelf he'd struck groaned, and then fell back.

It hit the shelf behind it with a thundering noise and that shelf, too, fell down and crashed to the ground. Shocks went through Hinata's entire body, but his wide eyes were still stuck on the body, yellow and black and flesh melting right off the bones. He couldn't tear his sight away.

"-nata! Hinata!"

"Senpai," he called, but his voice was strangled in his throat. The entire building groaned around them, and suddenly, Hinata's racing heartbeat stopped, and he held his breath. He tried to get up, but his limbs seized. Shock coursed through his system, and although adrenalin slapped him in the face, to get up and run, there was a cold terror that settled deep inside his bones and bogged him down in his fallen place.

"Hinata, where are you!? Get out, the building's gonna fall!" Nishinoya called from the front, trying to see his kouhai through the fallen shelves and the dust beginning to crumble from the ceiling.

"Noya, get out here!" Tanaka called from the doorway, and the libero shook his head, eyes wild.

"Hinata is in there!" he protested, coughing when he inhaled dust, and doubled over.

"Shit," Tanaka grit his teeth and rushed in, grabbing Noya from behind. "Come on, he'll come out on his own! It won't help if both of you are in here when the whole place falls to pieces!"

"We can't leave him! He's our kouhai!" Nishinoya cried out, thrashing in Tanaka's strong grip. "He's our friend! He's our little brother!"

"I know, Noya!" Tanaka's heart tore in half at those words, but he tried to keep himself together. "I know! That's why he'll pull through, but you need to come out!"

"Hinata!" Nishinoya screamed once again, and a piece of the ceiling caved right next to the two.

Tanaka swore, and, knowing he was making a terrible, but necessary decision, he grabbed Nishinoya around the waist, and lifted him off the ground to drag him away. It was almost like all the times Tanaka had lifted Nishinoya in the air in excitement, except this time, it was anything but.

"Shouyo!" the libero cried out once more, desperate tears leaking out of his wide, terrified eyes as Tanaka dragged him out of the doorway and dropped him on the pavement.

"Where's Hinata!?" Kageyama immediately asked as Tanaka struggled to hold Nishinoya from going back inside. A pipe creaked and burst somewhere, another piece of rubble falling down on the small store loudly. "Senpai, where's Hinata!?"

"Inside!" Noya looked at the doorway, still open to reveal the clouds of dust kicking up in the desolated environment inside. "He hasn't come out!"

And although he was stating the obvious, Kageyama's blood still ran cold.

"Hinata!" he called out, going as close to the store as he could. "Get out here, dumbass! Get out here, quick!"

Hinata heard Kageyama calling for him, but couldn't move. His voice was trembling, and he sounded scared, more scared than ever before. A part of him was glad about that, but another part of him was too terrified to care. He tried to stand up but his left ankle collapsed under his weight, and he fell again with a pathetic cry that turned into a cough as dust settled into his lungs.

Outside, Kageyama's blood ran cold as a part of the wall loudly caved in, and he held his breath throughout the shockwaves. Behind him, Nishinoya was sobbing loudly, and knowing Tanaka, he was probably crying, too, but Kageyama could not muster anything. His eyes were dry, and wide, and stuck on the part of the wall that had caved, and the large ceiling that was now unstable and groaning in the wind. Pieces of plaster and tile were crumbling off periodically, metal poles sticking out dangerously.

And then, when everything settled and the wind blew, there was a sound that let Kageyama release the breath he'd been holding.

"Tanaka-senpai..." It was a low sob that rose from the half-demolished store's confines. "Nishinoya-senpai..." New hope sparked inside of Kageyama, but the groaning of the precarious structure shocked him back to their grim reality. The building was not going to hold up. And poor Hinata would die, crushed as he cried out for his family to help.

No, Kageyama did not want to lose his family now that he finally had one.

"Kageyama!" The cry finally burst through the rubble, and the ceiling began to tilt down.

The setter's eyes went to the ceiling. The metal poles sticking out were visibly rusted from the acid rain.

His bag had dropped and his feet had begun moving even before Hinata cried out his final words.

"Tobio!"

"Kageyama, don't go!" His senpai screamed from behind him, but it didn't matter.

His feet carried him through the doorway, letting him vault over the fallen shelves, swerve around the rubble and climb over the fragments of the wall, and finally, as the noise from the crumbling building became overwhelming, he saw the ball of orange curled up on the floor and jumped towards him as if nothing else mattered at that moment.

Kageyama's warm body enclosed over Hinata's prone form, and the world came crashing down on them.

Kegayama felt the floor breaking away under his feet, and his heart soared in his chest as they fell. His grip on Hinata was bruising, but the smaller teen wasn't complaining. There were no illusions about the uselessness of Kageyama's gesture should a large piece of rubble fall on them. Both of them would be crushed under it without a doubt. However, it was comforting to have somebody by his side when he died, Hinata figured in his panicked mind. Last time he was in such danger, on the night of the Forty Fireworks, he had been alone and unable to seek help or comfort in anybody else. He thought he would die alone.

But this time, he wasn't alone. When he opened his eyes amidst the collapsing reality around them, all he could see was the burgundy of Kageyama's sweater, all he could hear was Kageyama's heaving breath in his ears, and all he could smell was the familiar musk and sweat of the only person who'd held him like this since the world went to hell.

He felt weightless and the world was timeless as he fell, wrapped in Kageyama's warm embrace.

And then, they hit the jagged ground, and there was pain, confusion and an overwhelming sense of terror.

Hinata let out a scream of pain and heard Kageyama do the same as the impact of falling rubble shook them around and sent them tumbling down a small pile of rubble. There was more shaking above their heads, and they held onto one another tightly, pressed against the ground and praying to any god that existed out there that nothing big would fall on them.

Slowly, as time regained its course, the rumbling stopped, and the pieces of debris painfully pelting Kageyama's back ceased. When there was not a single sound around them anymore, air rushed into both of their lungs, and they finally dared let go of one another to look around them.

It looked like they'd fallen down into the foundations of the building, on top of a pile of rubble against the edges. That left a large crater at the bottom of the pile, fille with wooden beams, pieces of debris, and metal poles. Above their heads, collapsed wooden beams crisscrossed and created a sort of prison cell with them in it. Although Kageyama could see the angry red sky, covered over with heavy grey clouds, it was only in certain places, and right above their heads, there was a large piece of ceiling that had remained intact and that was casting a large shadow over their heads.

"Kageyama! Hinata!"

"S-Senpai!" Kageyama called out, coughing violently as the dust settled.

"Oh god, I hear them," Tanaka's voice came from overhead. "Where are you two!?"

"Over here," the setter called, his throat raw and his eyes wide, stuck to the cell-like crisscrossing beams above them. Surely enough, it took a while, but soon, there was shadows filtering down through the gaps, casting over the rubble massed in the crater.

"Where?" Nishinoya's familiar, comforting voice came as well, and Kageyama saw the two of them stepping on the beams, testing them carefully.

"Down here, senpai," he called. "Be careful, those beams don't look very solid."

The two second-years turned to the sound of his voice and knelt carefully on the beams to have a better look at them. Relief dawned simultaneously in their eyes before they filled up with tears.

"You're okay," Noya sniffled. "Oh god, for a moment there, we were sure-"

"It's okay," Kageyama interrupted him, knowing that it would do them no good to dwell on hyopotheticals. "We're okay."

"S-Senpai..." Hinata coughed out from behind Kageyama, and the setter immediately turned to assess him.

The little spiker was covered in small cuts and smudged with dirt, but didn't seem to be in major danger. His nose had bled, but had stopped at some point as well, but asides from that, there wasn't a lot of blood on him.

"Hinata? How are you doing?" Tanaka asked from up top, and Kageyama shifted to let his senpai take a look at the younger player.

"I-I'm fine," Hinata nodded. "Just shaken."

"Understandable." Noya nodded, getting up. "Okay, don't worry, we'll get you out of here."

"Sorry..." Hinata murmured so that only Kageyama caught it, but he knew that Hinata's guilt went so much deeper than a simple sorry.

"How are you going to do that?" he asked instead, shifting the attention to their senpai carefully maneuvering on the beams above.

"I don't know. Let me see, maybe we can pull some rubble out overhead and open up a hole you could climb through."

Kageyama sighed and sat back, looking over Hinata instead of up overhead, where Tanaka and Nishinoya were discussing extraction possibilities. The young man had a dazed look in his eyes, and Kageyama figured he was still in shock.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked, carefully looking him over just in case he'd missed something before.

"I'm sorry..." Hinata whimpered, and then coughed some more. Kageyama hesitated, and then put a hand on his back to rub comforting circles, and it seemed to help Hinata calm down.

"It's okay. It's done now," he insisted, not liking how quiet the other was being.

"But I could've killed you. I could seriously have hurt you."

"But you didn't, so stop thinking about things that didn't happen." Kageyama himself was a bit shaken up, too, and his body ached where it was bruising from taking the impacts of his several falls, but it didn't feel like anything was broken.

"I'm sorry..."

"Hinata?" Now that was odd. No matter how apologetic Hinata was, he'd never sounded so solemn. That was something Kageyama had never seen before. Gently, he put his hand on the other teen's shoulder, and recoiled when Hinata flinched.

"I'm sorry, I messed up... Please don't hate me. Please!" He sounded desperate, and when he looked up, Kageyama saw the tears glistening in his chocolate brown eyes.

"Oi, did you hit your head? Of course I wouldn't hate you," Kageyama frowned, but then the possibility became more and more plausible, and he scooted over to kneel next to Hinata. "Lemme see your head."

"H-Huh?"

"Shut up," Kageyama sighed, looking through Hinata's matted hair strands (even so dirty, they were so soft...) to finally find a spot that was dotted with blood, in the back. "See? I knew it. You hit your head. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah..."

"You're not gonna faint or throw up, right?"

"No..." Hinata lowered his eyes. "Just, uhh.. There are like... black dots in my eyes. B-But I'm sure they'll pass!"

"Tch," Kageyama let go of Hinata and turned his gaze away to hide the worry that was surely reflected in them. "Tell me if they don't. Maybe Suga can help when we get back."

"Mhm... Sorry about all this."

"I said it was okay, so stop apologizing."

"Oi, you okay down there?" Tanaka called out, grabbing their attention.

"Still fine," Kageyama replied, looking up, but seeing no one on the beams.

"Noya and I are still looking for a way to get you guys out, so it might take a while!"

"Yeah..." Kageyama sighed more to himself than anybody else. His eyes turned to the parts of the sky he could see from where he sat, and he frowned at the heavy grey clouds. Those were not a good omen, either. They were hard-pressed for time.

"Don't worry, though. We'll get you out in no time!" But Noya's words felt shaky to his own ears, never mind to that of others.

"Senpai," Kageyama called after a few more minutes of deliberation, and clenched his fist. The suggestion he was about to make was not easy for anybody. "I... I think I have a plan."

"You do?" There was hope in Tanaka's voice, and Kageyama immediately felt guilty for what he was considering.

"Yeah." His eyes turned to the skies again. "It... It looks like it's about to rain. So there's no point if all four of us are stuck here until it lets up."

"All the more reason to get you out as soon as possible!"

"No, listen," Kageyama insisted, throwing a look at Hinata, who seemed to be in and out of the conversation. "Hinata hit his head. It's about to rain and now that we know what the rain can do, we can't afford to stay under it. We're three hours away from the gym. And you can't seem to find a way to get us out, right?"

"... What are you suggesting, Kageyama...?" Noya asked shakily, as if he already knew what was coming.

"Please, I need you to do this." He bit his lip hard. "Please run back to the gym as fast as possible and get help. Suga and Daichi might have more ideas."

"And leave you here alone? No way," Tanaka huffed, stepping within their sight to glare at them. "What kind of senpai would we be if we abandoned you?"

"You're not abandoning us. You're being the best senpai you can be by getting us the help we need," Kageyama insisted, eyes cold and hard. "Please. It looks like it's going to rain and it won't help if you two can't make it to the gym before it starts. Please leave quickly and come back quickly."

"What about you?" Noya asked, joining Tanaka on the beams, the look in his eyes strangely subdued. "You'll be okay?"

"Noya, you're not seriously considering it, are you?"

"We'll be fine. Our heads are covered here, so if it rains, it'll fill up the hole here, but it won't touch us," Kageyama answered, meeting Nishinoya's eyes with respect. He knew that it was not easy to make the call to pretty much abandon them, but it also was not easy to be the one to suggest it.

"Alright. Good. Don't move, then," Nishinoya nodded. "We'll be right back. We'll run as quickly as possible."

"Please be careful," Kageyama replied dutifully.

"You, too." Noya then turned his eyes to Hinata, who was slouching and staring blankly at the ground. "Shouyo. Can you hear me?"

Hinata took a moment to react to his name, but looked up, squinting at Noya.

"Senpai...?"

"Yeah." There was a proud and determined glint to Noya's eyes, and behind him, Tanaka stood squared and tense. "We're going to be back for you, alright? Don't pick a fight with Kageyama while we're gone."

"Only if Kageyama doesn't pick a fight with me," Hinata replied dazedly, and the second-years couldn't help but laugh.

"Right. Be safe, okay? We're coming right back for you," Nishinoya repeated once more, just to hammer it through Hinata's thick skull, and then stood back.

"Leave the rest to your trusty senpai!" Tanaka added, grinning widely down at them. Kageyama could see the strain to his smile, but Hinata seemed to be happy with what he got, so it didn't really matter.

"Good luck," Kageyama wished them as they stood back, and saluted before jumping off the beams, onto solid ground, and leaving.

Instantly, the air felt colder, and Kageyama shivered.

"Well, guess we'll just have to put our faith in them," he remarked, turning to look at Hinata, who didn't respond.

The young teen was falling asleep where he sat, quiet and subdued, and Kageyama's heart clenched at the sad sight. Usually, Hinata would be jumping around, looking for a solution already, but now, there was nothing either of them could do. The beams were at least seven feet overhead, definitely more, since Kageyama couldn't see himself reaching them without jumping, and even if he reached them, Hinata wouldn't be able to, and there was no way he was leaving the smaller boy behind.

His eyes hardened as they fell upon him once again, and he knew that he would never be able to leave the boy behind.

Not Hinata, who had challenged him time and time again to become a better person. Not Hinata, who had stayed by his side despite their rocky beginnings. Not Hinata, who had proven to him that teammates were dependable and not a burden. Not Hinata, who had knocked him clean off his throne as King of the Court and who had ripped off the heavy cape that had been weighing down on his shoulders.

Not Shouyo, who had cared for his wellbeing since the moment they met. Not Shouyo, who had encouraged him to keep going when he wanted to do nothing but give up. Not brave, determined, sunny, optimistic Shouyo whose innocence felt like the last salvation of this damned world.

"I'm not letting you go," he finally decided to say out loud, because Hinata was probably asleep, and he didn't have to deal with the consequences of his words.

"Hmm..." The boy hummed, though, and Kageyama froze, then turned to see a smug glint in his clouded eyes. "I've never let you go, either... Not gonna start now."

"Hinata, I'll hit you again if you keep saying embarrassing things," Kageyama threatened half-heartedly, painfully aware of how hot his cheeks had become.

"You said them first," Hinata chuckled softly. "Maybe you should hit yourself for once. You wouldn't hit an injured person, anyway."

"Not if that person is you," Kageyama huffed, turning his eyes away.

"I'd like to see you try."

"I won't hold back."

"Sure you won't."

"How's your head?" Kageyama suddenly asked, waiting for Hinata to crawl and sit next to him.

"Better, I guess," the spiker yawned, hesitating a second before setting his head on the other's shoulder. "The black spots aren't... so tenacious anymore. I'm just... so tired."

"Well, I'm not... really familiar with first aid or anything, but try to stay awake," Kageyama pursed his lips. "If you die, I'll never forgive you."

"I won't die," Hinata laughed softly, but then his voice caught in his throat, and they fell silent.

The wind blew on the surface, howling as it infiltrated their spot through the crisscrossing beams overhead. It was a cold wind, and Kageyama bit his lip, knowing that it would rain soon. Next to him, Hinata gave a violent shiver, but neither of them had anything in Hinata's bag, tossed a few feet away, that could help them against the cold.

At times like these, Kageyama seriously wondered if he would make it out of this ordeal alive.

"Hey, Kageyama?" Hinata finally called again after a while of silence.

"Hmm?"

"Where are our senpai?"

"You don't remember?" Kageyama frowned, looking down at Hinata worriedly. "They left to go get help."

"Oh." Hinata looked unconvinced. "Why?"

"Because we can't get out of here on our own. We need Suga and Daichi to come and help."

Kageyama watched as Hinata furrowed his eyebrows and softly pronounced the names again, and then nodded.

"Okay. Are they back yet?"

"They just left." Kageyama drew back and took Hinata's face in his hands to look into his eyes. He then looked at his bloody nose, though it didn't seem crooked, and then to the ugly purple bruise on his right cheekbone that seemed to be from when he hit the ground. Many other small cuts littered his face, but they were more scratches than anything else and didn't really concern Kageyama. "Are you okay? You're acting weird."

"I said I was tired," Hinata huffed, tilting his head away from Kageyama. "I want to sleep."

"Try not to until Suga gets here."

"I'm bored, though."

"Tough."

"You're an asshole," Hinata pouted childishly, pushing himself on all four to get up, but as soon as he began to push himself off the ground, he collapsed again with a soft cry of pain. "Ow!"

"Hinata!" Kageyama was immediately on high alert, heart thundering as he looked over the smaller boy. He was clutching his right leg in pain, and for a moment, Kageyama was terrified that maybe he'd broken a bone.

"Just my ankle," Hinata huffed out, though, once the pain had subsided. He winced as he stretched his leg out, and in the red light filtering through the beams, Kageyama could see that his ankle was swollen up and red, almost the size of his fist.

"Shit..." he swore, gently manipulating it to take a look. "Is it broken?"

"I can still put weight on the foot. I just can't move my ankle," Hinata winced as his partner touched the swollen joint. "Probably sprained it when I tripped."

"Damn it. It'll be problematic if you can't walk," Kageyama clicked his tongue in displeasure, then released his ankle. "I'm not carrying you."

"I wouldn't ask you to. I'll just hobble along," Hinata joked with a wink, and Kageyama looked away again.

They fell into silence, only occasionally shifting to find a better position to sit in. The adrenaline had crashed for them a while back, so both of them felt weak and shaky, and it didn't help that their body temperatures dropped in this cold. And neither of them had a watch, so neither of them could tell how long it had been since Noya and Tanaka left to get help.

"Hey Kageyama?" Hinata finally piped up after an extended silence. Kageyama, who had almost fallen asleep sitting, was jolted awake by his name, and turned to Hinata quickly.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think the rest of the world is like outside of town?" he asked in a soft, curious voice, looking up at the cloudy sky. "Like... What do you think we'll see when we leave home?"

Something about that statement struck Kageyama as wrong, but he thought about it for a bit regardless.

"I... I guess it looks the same. The buildings must be all broken up and burned, and there will be streets blocked by empty cars. Ransacked houses and stores, most definitely. Maybe since it's rained acid, there will be a lot of rusted poles and things like that..." he mused out loud.

"So it'll look pretty desolate, huh?" Hinata paraphrased. "Do you... you think there's a place for us out there?"

"Of course. Daichi will know what to do when the time comes," Kageyama insisted. "There's gotta be a place on the island where a survivor's camp is set up. We just have to find it."

"So we're not the only ones still alive?" Hinata gasped, a slight sparkle in his eyes at the thought.

"Course not, dumbass. You're not some video game protagonist. Of course there are other survivors." Kageyama's eyes glinted like steel in the light as he said it. "And we're gonna find them. And we're gonna be safe and sound."

"But... what if the other survivors are like the ones who..." There was a slight hesitation in his voice. "The ones who hurt Yamaguchi?"

"Then we'll protect one another until we find the ones who aren't out to hurt us," Kageyama answered as if it was a simple thing to do. "It might be long, and it might be hard to find someplace where we can be safe, but I know we'll find it."

"You sounds strangely optimistic, you know," Hinata remarked, and Kageyama balked at that.

"Well, my apologies for trying to make the best out of a shitty situation."

"It's okay," Hinata laughed. "I'm glad you're still you. And that none of the terrifying things that have happened so far have changed the mean, pushy friend you are to me, Bakayama."

And there was something so heartwarming about that sentence, accompanied by Hinata's bright little chuckle, that Kageyama couldn't bear to look at him. He turned his entire body away from the smaller male, instead opting to push on his head with one of his hands, eliciting a squeak of surprise and then a laugh from the other.

"Just shut up and sleep if you're going to say such embarrassing things, dumbass," he mumbled under his breath, but Hinata heard it and grinned widely.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, King."

And even when Hinata set his head against Kageyama's shoulder, the setter couldn't bear to take his hand off the orange tufts of hair. There was something tiny and precious about the boy next to him that Kageyama felt like would kill him if it disappeared. So he'd have to protect it, and he'd have to protect him, no matter what. Kageyama would not let go of him.

His grip loosened on Hinata's hair, but he drew him just a little closer, just enough to make him comfortable on his side. And when they were both settled, Kageyama did not let him go.

Not Hinata, the boy who had called his name when he thought he would die. Not Shouyo, the boy who had given him a family to call his own.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

It began raining a while later. Both of them has fallen asleep against one another at some point, so when the first crash of thunder echoed in the heavens, they both jerked awake and took a moment to situate themselves. However, their mutual presence by one another's side quickly calmed them down and drew them out of their sleepy haze.

"Feeling better?" Kageyama asked, yawning as he looked at Hinata.

"Bit," Hinata mumbled, stretching his upper body with grunts of pain. "How long has it been?"

"No idea," Kageyama clicked his tongue and looked up at the sky. It was impossible to tell how advanced they were in the afternoon because the grey clouds were too dense to see the sky from where they sat, but there was at least one certainty in the entire situation.

"It's gonna rain," Hinata whined. "What are we going to do?"

"Let's retreat as far back as we can against the edge there. A piece of the ceiling collapsed on this entire area, so we're covered from the rain, but if it gets windy, we could be in trouble," Kageyama suggested, starting to push himself up. His entire body creaked and protested the movement, pain circulating through his veins like wildfire, but he stood up anyway and put a hand down to help Hinata get up as well.

The smaller teen hesitated for a second, then threw all his pride out of the window when he realized that he wouldn't be able to move without Kageyama's help. Besides, he didn't think that either of them were eager to talk about what happened down here to anybody else, so whatever happened in these ruins stayed in these ruins.

Kageyama helped him limp away from the uncovered area, towards a safer, but darker spot. Already, these was a slight mist falling down through the openings in between the beams, but both of them knew that the actual rain would not be long now.

Once there, they both settled again to wait. They didn't know how long it had been since they'd separated from Noya and Tanaka, but they hoped that the two had gotten back to the gym in time. Now, both teams were paralyzed until the rain let up, and hopefully that would be rather soon.

The area they settled in was better covered from the elements, but it was also a few feet lower than where they'd stood before. Kageyama estimated that the deepest crevasse must be about 4 feet deep, and pretty wide, so they should be safe, but then again, nothing was ever guaranteed around here. They'd just have to wait and see.

"What now?" Hinata asked once the rain had begun in earnest, starting out like a regular rainfall but soon becoming heavy, one of the heaviest rains they'd ever seen in their short lives.

"Stop asking me that," Kageyama huffed in irritation, crossing his arms. "We have to wait for the rain to let up so our senpai have the opportunity to get us help."

"Do you think it'll rain for long?" Hinata asked again, almost as if questioning things around him was the only thing keeping him alive right now. Kageyama figured that if he had a concussion, that might partially be true, so he could stop being a bit of a tit about his constant pestering.

"I want to say no, but we won't know until it starts letting up," he shrugged. "Just don't get cold. It's windy and it sounds like a thunderstorm out there, so it might get a little wild."

"Just what we need right now," Hinata sighed, but then settled back against Kageyama. "Hey. You don't mind if I do this, right?"

And Kageyama's back hurt from sleeping hunched over and bearing Hinata's weight, but hell, he couldn't ask for anything more than keeping them both safe.

"Whatever. Do what you want."

"Thanks," Hinata grinned at him, and Kageyama felt guilty for indulging in that smile so much. "Hey... You've forgiven me, right?"

"Huh?"

"For messing up..." Hinata's smile vanished. "And for getting us stuck like this."

"Don't talk as if we were going to die in here," Kageyama clicked his tongue in reproach, but then shrugged. "I'm tired of you apologizing all the time. You're not the only one involved, okay?"

"But it was my idea-"

"But there were three other people to stop you. And three other people to come in and make sure you didn't break anything. And I willingly came in when the building began to fall, so if anything, it's my fault I'm here," he insisted. "So stop being so selfish. You're not the only one who matters around here. It was a group mistake, so we'll all take responsibility for it."

The number of times he'd heard a variation of that statement during volleyball games was astounding, and so at some point, it had stuck. And now, it seemed ideal to return the statement to Hinata, who seemed to be doing the most fatal thing; taking all the blame on his shoulders.

And Hinata probably recognized the idea behind the statement, because he gave Kageyama a weak smile.

"I didn't thank you, by the way."

"For what?"

"Coming in to try and save me. Even though I made the whole building collapse," Hinata looked away.

"Well, I couldn't let you kill yourself due to your own stupidity," Kageyama did the same thing in the other direction, his heart skipping a beat. "Don't say it like it's admirable."

"But it is. You didn't have to, but you came," Hinata insisted, turning back to him, but Kageyama still didn't meet his eyes.

"Well... you called my name," he muttered, and at that moment, a crash of lightning lit up the sky, thunder rolling ominously.

"S-Sorry. I don't think I heard that right. Could you repeat?" Hinata stammered, eyes wide and cheeks pink.

"Nothing," Kageyama insisted out loud, but then when the rain gained in intensity, words he never even knew he could conjure came tumbling out of his mouth in a hushed whisper, a secret promise. "I said that... when we die and decompose, tomorrow or in a billion years, even if we are stardust separated by millions of light-years... If you call my name, I'll always find my way back to you."

When the last word left his lips, he immediately blushed to the tip of his ears, clenching his fists and not even believing what he'd ended up saying. He didn't even want to see Hinata's reaction now, he was so embarrassed.

"...Huh?" Hinata finally conceded, frowning at Kageyama. "Stop mumbling, you're creepy, and I can't understand a thing. What the heck did you just say?"

And Kageyama's wide eyes whipped up to look at him incredulously, as if wondering if this kid was for real, and slowly, slowly, an irritated expression flashed across his face, right in time to stop the smile that was about to emerge instead.

"I said you didn't have to thank me, so shut your mouth and get some sleep!" he huffed.

"Fine, fine, you don't have to be so pissy about it." Hinata stuck his tongue out at him. "Bakayama!"

"You're incredibly mature, I know that already, so shut it!"

The usual banter flew over their heads for a few minutes longer before they tired of it and fell silent. Instead of talking, they listened to the rain's violent descent, wondering if the heavens themselves were falling over their heads this time. It was raining buckets, and the bottom of the foundations they were stuck in was already filling up. Water accumulating from nearby buildings and structures also fell into the hole, and suddenly, Kageyama was struck with the frankly irrational fear that if he went to sleep, the next time he'd wake would be underwater. Or never again.

Hinata was already dozing off next to him, somehow finding drowsiness through the cold wind that was racking his small body with shivers, and finding solace in the booming thunder periodically ripping through the sound of heavy rain. But then, Kageyama realized that his arm was still around Hinata's shoulders, and that perhaps the smaller teen had found solace within his embrace.

And it was there, at that moment, that something hit him straight in the chest, something heavy and loaded that he could not identify, but that suddenly lit every single one of his nerve endings on fire. It hurt, but it also empowered him for some reason, and the longer he looked at Hinata's trembling form against him, the longer his ears registered the sound of puffing breaths through the noise drowning them out, the longer he felt Hinata's cold skin against him, the more his chest clenched and the more it hurt.

His hand tightened on Hinata's opposite shoulder, almost crushing him, and the young boy whined in pain. Kageyama did not let him go, though, because if he let go now, he didn't know whether or not he'd be able to get him back.

Neither of them fell asleep then. It was too noisy and too cold for any peace to be found, and so they both stayed seated, rooted in place and stuck close as if they were the only things keeping one another alive. Slowly, the hole was filling up with water, and the smell of acid and rotten eggs was becoming stronger.

The next time the boys opened their eyes, it was to the terrifying sound of a groaning metal pole struggling to stay upright despite the erosion of the acid rain. Both of them blinked out the lethargy set into their eyelids and tried to look through their darkened surroundings for the source of the loud groaning. They only ended up hearing the pole when it snapped and fell into the pool of water that was steadily rising up, and, frantically searching for the telltale disturbance on the water's surface, they ended up realizing that the water had risen to only a couple of feet below where they were standing. How long had it been since the rain began? Neither of them even knew. The concept of time was obsolete down in the ruins holding them captive. All that mattered was surviving until help arrived.

"Hinata," Kageyama called over the howling rain, strangely calm. "Let's move up to the highest point. The water's rising."

"We're gonna drown, aren't we?" Hinata whimpered, barely audible over the rain.

Kageyama did not have the heart to tell him that the acid rain would probably burn them to death before they had a chance to drown.

"We're gonna make it," he promised instead, because no matter what, he would find a way to save them, or die trying. He wasn't going to lose Hinata. Not when he needed him the most. "Come on, lean on me."

"I don't want to die, Kageyama," Hinata continued, grunting when the setter pulled him up. Together, they began hobbling up the pile of rubble, slowly, carefully as not to trip, and settled at the highest point.

"You're not gonna die. I'll make sure of it," Kageyama answered as confidently as he could manage, setting Hinata down.

"Where are you going?" Hinata suddenly grabbed Kageyama's sleeve as he got back up. "Don't go anywhere!"

"Calm down." The setter was visibly shocked at the fear that had suddenly permeated Hinata's eyes. As if he'd been actually afraid of being abandoned. "I'm just gonna go get your bag before it gets swallowed up by the water."

"Oh," Hinata mumbled, and then hesitantly let him go. "Be careful."

"It's right there, I'll be fine," Kageyama gave him a moment, and then turned to walk back down to where they were a moment ago. Hinata's backpack was laying where they'd left it, and although immediate survival was a priority right now, they also had long-term survival to consider, and letting a bag of perfectly good supplies go to waste was just stupid.

As he picked up the bag from the strap and swung it on his back, his ears were suddenly assailed with a new sound. One that he had never wanted to hear, ever.

Hinata.

Screaming.

Kageyama's blood ran cold and in the second and a half it took him to whip around towards his partner, a million scenarios were already haunting his mind.

But Hinata was still there, where he'd left him, except his eyes were elsewhere. Lost, even as they stared in horror at the water rising up, and for a moment, Kageyama was so afraid that Hinata had been burned by a sudden splash or something of the like.

"Hinata!" he called urgently, jogging up the small hill separating them and sliding to his knees next to him. "What's wrong?"

"T-T-The..." Hinata seemed to be unable to make words, eyes still fixated at something behind Kageyama. The setter turned to look where Hinata seemed to be staring, but in the darkness, he couldn't see much. "I-In the water!"

Lightning flashed loudly, and finally illuminated what Hinata had seen. And truly, Kageyama admitted through the welling nausea in his throat, that it was a nightmarish sight. And he would probably have screamed, too, had the terror not been caught in his throat in a tight ball.

There was a body in the water nearby, not only visibly several months old and decomposing, but also waterlogged from the abundant rain. It was bloated up into a shapeless mass of black and yellow tissues leaking into the pool, but worst of all, the teens could observe the effects of the acid rain on its rotting flesh.

All of the flesh was in the process of being eroded, holes burning through the crevices of the body where water had accumulated. In several places, the body's clothes had been disintegrated and were in the process of fusing with the soft, melting flesh. The body was deformed and pieces of muscle and skin were floating next to it in the water, blackened and painted with heavily congealed, rotting blood. Where bones had already been uncovered, in places like the body's face, the white had become yellow and cracked and all of the hairs on the body had been burned clean off, leaving red spots on its skull, face and arms.

"Don't look," Kageyama found himself whispering, wide eyes stuck on the corpse, unable to tear away.

"I-I saw him!" Hinata sobbed out, turning his face into Kageyama's shirt. "It's the store owner. I saw his body behind the counter and it took me by surprise, and that's why I tripped." He sniffled and Kageyama finally found himself tearing away from the macabre display to look at a more uplifting sight instead. "But that's definitely not what he looked like before!"

"It's the rain," Kageyama answered shakily, not knowing what to do. Even in the darkness, the sight of the body seemed to be everywhere, even behind his own eyelids, and an uncontainable terror welled up inside of him as well. "Oh god, this is all due to the rain."

"Kageyama, I'm scared," Hinata admitted, suddenly grabbing onto Kageyama's sweater. "I'm sorry for everything, but I don't want to die. Please, I don't want to end up like that!"

"Hinata, calm down," Kageyama prompted although his own heart was about to beat right out of his chest. He could practically feel the corpse's empty eye sockets on his back and he felt slimy just imagining it. A shiver of disgust went through him, and he found himself holding onto Hinata's hand on his sweater, just to anchor himself to reality. "It's gonna be okay."

Hinata seemed to take it well as he put his other hand on Kageyama's chest, and then leaned into him, smothering his tears and terrified sobbing into the wool of his clothes.

And hell, at this point, pride was something that neither of them could afford to have, or even still had, for that matter. So Kageyama put both of his arms around Hinata and drew him close, just to feel him alive and breathing against him. And somewhere along the line, tears began dripping down his face as well, and his shoulders shook with every shuddering breath he took.

But every shuddering breath he took smelled like Hinata, and maybe, maybe things weren't too bad.

"Kageyama?" Hinata finally asked him in a scraggly voice, heavy with unshed tears. Although their heads were covered by the piece of collapsed ceiling, still, there were small leaks in the area where they stood, and the wind blew the rain in their direction, so occasionally, Kageyama would feel the burning of a drop of water trailing down exposed skin or soaking through a piece of clothing.

"What is it, Hinata?" he sighed, refusing to budge. He was comfortable, as strange as it was to say, as if being interlocked with Hinata was keeping him warm and safe even though the entire world around them was going to hell.

"Can you talk? About anything," he mumbled against Kageyama's chest, then lifted his face and drew a bit back to look into Kageyama's bloodshot eyes. "Please just... talk some."

"I don't really make small talk, you know that," Kageyama answered uncomfortably, but Hinata's eyes were wide and wet and pleading him to distract him.

"Please. About anything. Childhood friends and dreams, favourite teacher, what you want to eat first when we get someplace safe, I don't know. Anything."

"I... I'd like to... eat curry, maybe?"

"... And?"

"... What do you mean, 'and'?" Kageyama sighed, looking away with a blush. "I don't know what else to say."

"You're boring," Hinata laughed, but the laugh was wet and followed by a sniffle. "Well, I want to eat a big bowl of warm miso soup. With extra tofu in it. And then I feel like eating yakitori and okonomiyaki, fresh off the grill. And then as a main dish, I want to eat tonkatsu with a lot of rice, or maybe even in a curry if it's available, and of course, I want dessert, too."

"Oi, that's a bit excessive, don't you think?" Kageyama raised at eyebrow, but Hinata just laughed at his surprised face and kept going.

"Daifuku. Daifuku are good. Especially with the strawberry filling. Oh, but I've always wanted to try mochi ice cream, so I bet that'd be worth a shot as well! But then I'd have to keep some place for an obligatory Garigari-kun after the meal," Hinata's grin brightened Kageyama's world a hundred times more than the flash of lightning that made both of them flinch in fear for a second. Neither of them turned to look at the corpse floating a few feet away, and neither of them needed to to remember the danger they were in.

But Hinata's optimism was brighter than any dark future, so Kageyama chose to stick with him for the time being.

"You know... my mom used to make really good doughnuts. They were really sweet, and crispy on the outside, but really fluffy on the inside." Hinata's smile suddenly wilted, and soon, he looked nostalgic.

Kageyama's heartstrings tugged inside his chest at the sight of such sadness in the energetic boy. The other's fists clenched into his sweater and instinctively, he shifted closer to encircle him better.

"She was... She was really good at everything," Hinata murmured, and suddenly, Kageyama knew where this was going. And he was very familiar with Hinata at this point, and had even briefly spoken to him about his family the night before, but the idea of intimacy to the point of discussing their families was somewhat frightening. "She was loving, and caring, and she only wanted the best."

He had nothing to say to that. Hinata seemed a bit disappointed, because he looked at him hopefully, but then sighed and look back down to where his fists were in his sweater.

"She shouldn't have died. Not like that, not right now. She always promised that come morning light, we'd be safe and sound. She promised to protect us."

And Kageyama still had nothing to say, only because he'd never known that kind of relationship before. Hinata spoke of it fondly, and he was slightly envious of him for it, but he couldn't miss something he'd never really had. And so he kept quiet.

"She... She probably died protecting Natsu," Hinata's eyes watered up again at the thought of his baby sister. "Since the war began, Natsu would always be so afraid, she'd always end up in either my or my mom's bed. We'd chastise her in the morning and tell her there was nothing to be afraid of, but we wouldn't mind it so much when she did it again."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Kageyama finally decided to say, feeling slightly awkward. However, Hinata was trusting him enough to share more than ever before about his relatively-newly deceased family, and he would take pride in that. "I hadn't had the chance to meet them, but I'm sure we would have gotten along."

"Mom would have liked you, even if you're an arrogant prick sometimes," Hinata laughed, and suddenly, there were new tears leaking slowly down his cheeks. "Natsu would probably have gotten jealous of you because I spend so much time practicing volleyball with you instead of being at home. She was... She was really looking forward to going to school again so I could help her with her homework. And she asked me to teach her to play volleyball, too, when she got older."

His fists clenched so tight on Kageyama's sweater that the setter was afraid he'd loosen it up irreversibly. However, when he saw Hinata hang his head, and then felt the trembles in his arms, he didn't say anything at all. He let him stay like that as long as he wanted.

"I... I miss them," he sniffled. "I miss talking to them, or being with them, or even just seeing them. On some days, it gets so lonely that I find myself wanting to die so I can see them again," he admitted, and Kageyama's eyes went wide.

"You wouldn't do that, though... right?" he asked tentatively, treading as lightly as he could. To his relief, Hinata shook his head.

"My mother died protecting my sister. And I lived. It would be shameful if I gave up now. She loved us both so much, and raised us as best as she could on her own, so it would not be right to throw away the life she gave me, even after her death," he mumbled. "But still... it hurts so much. I just want to see them one more time and tell them I love them. I just want to say goodbye to them."

"I'm sure they both knew your feelings, even when they died." Kageyama's eyes then went to the clouded sky, barely visible through the heavy raindrops falling down noisily. "And wherever they are, they are watching over you and protecting you even today. So don't regret what you couldn't do and just... remember all the happy memories you made with them."

"You're right," Hinata nodded softly. "It actually... I know this is incredibly weird to say, but it actually helped a lot when I spent the four days next to them. I... I didn't see them because they were crushed under the house, but... I feel like it gave me time to remember them. I was glad to be able to hold my mother's hand one last time, even if she didn't hold me back. And ultimately, I feel like it was my mom who pushed me to leave and keep living, no matter how much I wanted to die then."

"I..." Kageyama sighed, really not knowing what to say. "I'm... honoured you decided to share this with me. It doesn't look like it's easy."

"It's not, but... I felt like I had to do it," he smiled up at Kageyama softly, almost shyly. "So... thanks for listening to me."

"Don't thank me for something like that..."

"I want to." Hinata left it at that, and set his head back down on Kageyama's chest again.

They stayed like that for a while. Their fingers and toes were absolutely frozen by then, but it hardly mattered when the rest of their bodies were warmly pressed up against one another. And their skin burned in several places where the acid had had time to burn a few layers of epidermis off, but it didn't matter if the rain now brought them a sense of serenity, rather than fear. The image of the bloated, burned corpse flashed in their minds with every bolt of lightning, but then dissipated into the darkness in between. And so, it really wasn't that bad.

"Tell me about your family, now," Hinata softly suggested at some point, and Kageyama snapped back awake from a state of semi-lethargy he'd been lulled into.

His first instinct was to check the water level, and he was worried to see that it had risen enough to start submerging the spot where they'd been sitting a while back. A few more feet of accumulation, and they were done for. However, the rain also seemed to be lighter and lighter, so Kageyama crossed his fingers that it wasn't just an illusion, and then turned his eyes to Hinata.

"I don't really have much to say," he spoke truthfully, because unlike Hinata, his family hadn't been a close-knit one he could remember with fondness.

"Come on, you have to have something to say about them. How was your mom? And your dad? Did you have any siblings?" Hinata prompted, and Kageyama legitimately thought about those questions for a while.

"I don't know," he finally conceded.

"How do you not know? That's kind of ridiculous, even for you," Hinata frowned.

"I don't know," Kageyama sighed, and then looked away, suddenly self-conscious. "I don't know because... I've hardly ever spoken to my parents at all."

"... Huh?" Hinata let out dumbly, suddenly giving all of his attention to Kageyama. "How come?"

"I don't know. It just happened that way. It's always been that way," the setter shrugged, not daring to meet his partner's curious gaze. "Since grade school. My mother would drop me off to school and then pick me up from after-school programs and then she'd go work in her room for the rest of the night."

"And your dad?"

"He's a businessman, so he travels a lot. I've seen him a few times in passing, but I haven't really talked to him or anything," Kageyama mumbled, not wanting to look at Hinata because he was afraid of what he might find. Pity, perhaps? He did not want to be the 'poor kid without parents'. He was just fine without them anyway.

"But then... who made your lunches?"

"I did."

"And dinner?"

"Sometimes there'd be leftovers to heat up."

"But who tucked you in?"

"I didn't... need anybody to tuck me in."

"And who went to your parent-teacher conferences?"

"I was a good student, so my parents were never called to the school."

"Who made you feel better when you were sad, then?"

"Well you hardly need other people to get involved when that happens..."

"That doesn't make any sense," Hinata finally groaned out. "You're so weird."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kageyama balked, feeling like he should feel offended somehow.

"You're acting so unbothered by the fact that you never had parents who took care of you!"

"Well I did fine on my own, didn't I?" the setter argued. "I'm fine now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but you could've been better," Hinata crossed his arms. "Don't you feel like something is missing?"

"I can't miss something I've never had."

"That's horrible," Hinata frowned. "You shouldn't have to say that. You should have had somebody, anybody, who took care of you and who was there for you when you needed them." He took a moment to think about what he'd just said, and Kageyama had no words to respond to him with. There was something akin to shame welling up inside of him, and he hated it. "Didn't you... didn't you ever feel lonely...?" Hinata finally asked.

And there was something that clicked inside of Kageyama.

All those years of not knowing how to interact with other people and not knowing how to read other people's emotions. All those years of eating lunch alone, walking home alone, studying alone. All those years of angry, self-centered behaviour because he'd never been taught otherwise.

Only now he realized how absolutely _lonely _he had been up until high school. Constantly surrounded by a crowd, but never by people. And it hurt a lot more than he thought to come to that conclusion now.

"It doesn't matter." The words slipped out of his mouth before he even felt them tumbling out. When he finally looked up, he saw the look in Hinata's eyes, and suddenly, there was anger festering inside of him like pus on an old wound. "Don't pity me."

"Huh?"

"I see it in your expression." Even in the dark, the pursed lips and shifting eyes were clear to him. "You're pitying me, and I don't want that. There's a reason why I don't say anything about my family, and it's because I know people will react this way!"

"It's not pity," Hinata interrupted him solemnly. "It's sadness. I'm sad."

"Don't be. I'm not sad, so you shouldn't be, either."

"Exactly my point," Hinata insisted. "You're not sad because you've always lived like this. But you shouldn't have. I've had a mother and a sister who have been my constants until now. Even when I had nothing else, I had them. And even when things weren't ideal, or things went wrong, we still had one another." The spiker's eyes were hard and determined. "But you... you've never felt that. How reassuring it is to know that someone has your back all the time, and that you have somebody who will love you unconditionally. You haven't had anybody that has stuck with you throughout your life and who has seen you in every way there is. So of course you're not sad. But I am, for you, for what you've missed, for what you could've, and should've had."

"That's embarrassing," Kageyama started to speak, but his voice cracked and with horror, he realized that his eyes were burning. His chest felt empty, as if he'd been hungry for something all this time and had only just realized it, and the persistent tugging of his heartstrings was about to make him vomit up whatever had been plugging the gigantic gaping hole in his chest before Hinata came and recklessly pulled it out. "Stop talking," he finally said, and ducked his head, biting his lip to keep in the embarrassed tears.

Hinata said nothing, and let him compose himself.

Kageyama had never really thought it weird that his mother never really stuck around him. People were different, he'd come to accept that from an early age. Sure, it had hurt at first, to hear other kids boast how their mother made their bento or took them to the arcade or took care of them when they were sick, but soon he found himself doing all of those things independently from the woman who only showed up when she absolutely had to, and then left back into her room to do whatever. Since Kageyama began junior high, she'd also taken up a new hobby of travel, and would often disappear for days, or even weeks without notifying Kageyama at all. The only thing he'd have to remember her by was a wad of cash by the front door, and after the first few times, it stopped bothering him.

It became his routine, and he had never really thought about it twice.

Until now, until years later, one boy had been bold and shameless enough to stick his nose into his personal business and rip apart the frail lies he'd built for himself. And he didn't know what else to do. His entire character was built on the constant that he did not need anybody else in his life.

And now, there was Hinata. And there was the rest of Karasuno. And there was nobody else.

"You're too shameless," Kageyama finally ended up saying, his voice shaking, but he proudly swallowed his tears and looked at Hinata straight in the eyes. "I don't need anybody else. That's all there is to it."

"Well, you're saying that because you're pretty stupid most of the time," Hinata huffed jokingly, smirking at him. "But a family is a constant presence that grounds you when you feel like you're gonna lose it, and who guides you when you get lost. A family changes you for the better, and a family loves you more than anybody else in the world. And a family doesn't have to be blood-related. So that way, everybody has a family, whether they know it or not."

Faces popped up in Kageyama's mind, and he momentarily reeled at how easy it was to associate people with Hinata's new description of a family. The spiker seemed to see the surprise on his face, because he smiled and gave him a moment to think it all out.

"So. Kageyama," he began again after a moment, looking up at him with new life in his gaze. "Tell me about your family."

And by the looks of it, Hinata knew exactly what the answer was, and yet he still wanted him to say it out loud. Kageyama puffed out his cheeks, refusing to give in, but Hinata was looking so intently at him, as if saying it out loud would save the world, or something.

So he turned his eyes to the sky poking through the crisscrossed beams dripping with raindrops. The rain had become a slight drizzle at this point, and not too soon at all as only about two feet of dry land remained around them. The corpse had floated away further, and Kageyama was glad that he didn't have to be reminded of how mortal they were.

"Fine. Well..." He knew Hinata was still looking expectantly at him, but he kept his eyes on the cloudy sky. "I... I have a... mother. He- uhh... She is very nice." He would smile no matter what and encourage him to move forward. He'd listen to him and give him advice, or just lend him an ear if that's what he needed. He was determined and ready to take responsibility, and Kageyama admired him a lot. "She knows a lot of things and always wants to learn more, and she takes care of the people around her devotedly. She's always there when you need her."

"And your dad?"

"He's..." It was embarrassing, because he could feel Hinata grinning as he recognized the people he was referencing. It was like playing a game where both of them could read between the lines. "He's strong. And a very imposing presence. He takes care of his family very well and tries to provide for them however he can. I think that's his main problem; that he's always trying to hard to take care of others and he's always taking the responsibility on his shoulders. My... mom tries to carry some of his burdens, and together, they're not half-bad as parents."

"They sound wonderful," Hinata commented in earnest. "Others?"

"I have an uncle," Kageyama tested out the word on his mouth and found it fitting. "He's a big teddy bear. He's real sensitive so he's got this naturally trustworthy air to him, so he's a good listener. But he cares a lot and he's pretty strong, so if you mess with people he loves, he might not go easy on you."

"Wouldn't wanna be on the receiving end of him," Hinata laughed.

"I also have two cousins. They're little shits, to be honest." At that, Kageyama's face twisted into a weird expression that was a mix of exasperation and irritation. "One of them is not so bad. He's pretty quiet and mostly follows my other cousin around, but he's got skills, too, and he likes being helpful, so I guess he can be nice when he's not being an arrogant prick like the other one. The other one, he's like this beanpole with a smart mouth, and he gets on my nerves. He's always trying to pick a fight and coming up with dumb insults and comebacks, and half the time I want to punch him in the face." But then he remembered something, and the irritation fell from his face. "But... both of them haven't been doing so good lately. Some bad stuff happened and they're not over it yet, so as much as they annoy me, I still... wouldn't wish that upon anybody. So I hope they feel better soon."

"I'm sure they'll make it," Hinata added pensively, biting his lip. "They have their family, too, to help them along."

"Right."

"Anyone else?"

"Uhh... I have two older brothers," Kageyama blushed slightly as he began to come closer to the centre. "They're rowdy and loud and way too enthusiastic about everything, but they mean well. They don't always think with their entire heads, but they're definitely quick to protect those they love, so they're very dependable. They get along really well, too, and they're goofballs, so I guess it's... kind of nice to have them around to lighten the mood when things get bad."

"They sound wonderful," Hinata commented, and they fell silent at that point.

It felt like there was a door that should be left unopened staring them in the face. And neither of them was sure if they wanted to see what came out when they did, or not.

"Anybody... else?" Hinata finally ventured, looking at Kageyama expectantly.

And Kageyama felt his inquisitive gaze on him and tried to fight down the exasperation he felt at playing all these games. But then again, he was embarrassed, so he was glad to be able to detach himself slightly from what he was saying. Plus, it was now or never. He wanted to put this last tidbit of information out there and get it over with. Besides, he trusted his partner not to divulge anything he said here once they got out.

"I... I have..." he hesitated for a moment. "... a little brother."

"You do?" Hinata's voice was perfectly neutral, and Kageyama admired him for the rare show of composure. Perhaps the concussion was doing him some good after all.

"Yeah. He's... special." There was no other way to describe him. "He's got his head in the clouds all the time, an idealist and a dreamer. He doesn't really know how to use his common sense at all and always rushes into things. He's shameless and loud and too easily impressed, and he doesn't know how to sit still."

"Don't you think you're being a bit too harsh?" Hinata laughed a bit uncomfortably, suddenly red in the face.

"Not really. It's true," Kageyama snorted, but then his tone softened. "But it's also true that he's eager to help, and that his optimism is unrivalled. He's quick on his feet and always full of energy, so he's really dependable if anybody ever needs help with anything. He doesn't try to be, but he's actually pretty entertaining, even if it gets annoying sometimes. And right now, a lot of people need someone like my little brother... To kind of... give them some hope. That there is something worth fighting for and that the future should never be given up on. He's naive and clueless, but he teaches me a lot of things that I'd never bothered to think about, so I think... I think, sometimes, that we... complete each other."

"I see. Your family must love you very much, I'm sure."

"At first, I was... afraid. That I would lose them like I've lost other people before. But then, over time, it's sunk in that even if I wanted to let them go, they... they wouldn't let me go," Kageyama mumbled, not sure if he wanted Hinata to hear that last bit. But Hinata heard it, and strangely enough, his serene expression didn't change.

"I'm sure they wouldn't dream of it. You must mean a lot to them, all of them."

"Yeah... But anyway! This is embarrassing. There. I told you about my family." Kageyama hid his face in his hands, unable to face Hinata after all that he had said.

"I'm glad you shared. I'm happy you feel safe around these people," Hinata chuckled, and watched as the reflections on the water bounced off onto his friend, illuminating softly the pink tip of his ears.

"Now stop talking. You're saying too many clueless things, dumbass!"

"Sure," Hinata shrugged, and then scooted closer. "You okay there?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're all red in the face!"

"Why you-"

Hinata interrupted Kageyama's incoming rant with a loud laugh, a genuinely amused laugh. As if responding to it, the rain ceased softly, and only the waterfalls of rain draining from adjacent structures kept flowing into the ruins that were close to becoming their casket. And yet, neither of them could bring themselves to see the hopelessness in this situation. It was bizarre.

Kageyama was convinced that Hinata's laugh had something to do with all that.

"Hey, Tobio?" Hinata suddenly called, and the unfamiliar sound of his name sent the setter spinning around to look at his friend's smiling face. Nobody ever called his first name unless there was trouble, so this was a refreshing change that sent a newfound hope soaring through his heart.

"Hmm?"

"I'm cold," Hinata simply stated, and Kageyama understood.

Slowly, he drew Hinata close to him once again, and Hinata melted against him, warm and soothing, and unlike anything he'd ever felt before. Together, they sat and watched the last bits of water empty around them, the water rising up further and further until they were stuck on an island only a few feet wide.

But they were okay. They were alive, and they'd made it through the storm, and in the process had discovered things that they never even considered before.

"Hey, Kageyama?" Hinata murmured as they both watched the sky lighten up, gradually reverting back to its usual red colour.

"What is it?" Kageyama answered softly as well, unwilling to disturb the almost sacred silence that had set around them now that the noisy rain had ceased.

"Just one thing."

"Hmm?"

"You know I'm older than you, right?"

"H-Hinata, you absolute dumbass!"

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

They fell asleep again. Though they hadn't moved since they'd settled in their high spot, their conversation had worn both of them out emotionally. Mixed in with the boredom of being confined to a small space, both of them had found it fit to fall asleep to the dripping noise of the last drops of water emptying into the acidic pool surrounding them.

They were woken by the sound of hasty footsteps and panicked voices, and after the first few seconds of disorientation, hope soared inside of them.

Their senpai had returned.

"Hinata! Kageyama!"

"Senpai!" The two younger members exclaimed, eyes stuck to the crisscrossed beams overhead, hoping to spot their friends.

"Oh god, they're alive," another voice cried out in what must've been exhilarated relief. "They're alive down there!"

"You okay?" The voice was definitely Nishinoya's, and surely enough, the small libero soon came into view, maneuvering over the beams to take a look at them. "They're here!"

"Senpai, you're back!" Hinata cried out in relief, eyes watering up.

"Of course we are! We'd never leave you here, ever!" Nishinoya assured him, and then pointed in front of him, where the two couldn't see. "And, I got backup."

"Hinata, Kageyama," a new voice jumped in, and the two first-years were relieved to hear their trust captain's voice. Soon enough, Nishinoya had gotten off the beams, and Daichi had stepped in where he had stoo to take a look at his teammates. "You're okay... We were very worried when it started raining so much."

"So you know about the rain?" Kageyama asked, glancing around them briefly.

"Suga figured it out with the data Noya and Tanaka brought back when they came to get us. What was it again, Suga?" Daichi asked, looking up where the two couldn't see.

"Sulfuric acid. It's a compound that reacts violently when mixed with water and creates acid rain." Suga's unmistakeably gentle voice answered, and it was something akin to peace that washed over both of the first years. "Are you two hurt?"

"A little," Daichi answered first. "I can see a few burns, probably from splashed rain."

"Ah," Kageyama answered dumbly, only then feeling the pain from the patches on his face and arms where the water had corroded his skin. "Well, Hinata's ankle is sprained pretty badly and I think he has a concussion. The rest is just minor cuts on both of us."

"You two got lucky. Noya said the entire building collapsed on you, so we were expecting much worse. Thank goodness for your safety, though," Daichi grinned up at where Suga must've been standing. "Suga almost got a grey hair worrying about you on our way here."

"Hilarious, Daichi. It wasn't funny."

"Of course it wasn't. But they're okay. We're going to get them out safely, and we're all going to go home together," Daichi insisted. "Speaking of which, don't worry. Noya said there was a hardware store at the end of the street, so I sent Asahi to gather some tools so we can get you out."

"Sorry about the trouble," Hinata mumbled guiltily, but Daichi waved him off, predictably.

"Don't worry about it. We're just glad you're both safe."

Kageyama noted that Daichi, Suga and the rest really were way too kind for their own good.

"Here comes Asahi!" Noya cried out from somewhere the two couldn't see. "Oi, Asahi! Hurry up!"

The first-years laughed as the sound of hurried footsteps and panting, and Noya's unintelligible mumbling as Asahi arrived.

"You try carrying all this stuff and running around, Noya!" the third-years complained, but they all knew it was half-hearted. Instead, all of them immediately got to work. Soon, both Daichi and Asahi were precariously perched on the crisscrossing beams with saws in their hands, working on cutting out the obstructing pieces to give them a place where they could come up from.

"Be careful, we don't know how the rain eroded those beams," Kageyama warned them. "It was pretty heavy, so be sure they don't break."

"They feel stable enough for now. Just a little slippery," Asahi commented. "I wouldn't wanna fall in there. Looks deep."

"At least four feet of acid," Hinata huffed. "I wouldn't want to fall in there either."

"You two got so lucky that the rain stopped when it did. A little longer and you would have been submerged," Daichi commented, working hard on his piece of wood. The saw got stuck at several intervals, but soon enough, a piece of wood had been cut out, leaving a large enough space for someone to squeeze through.

"Watch out," Asahi warned them before he dropped the piece of wood into the water, splashing it some, but not enough to get any on the first-years.

"Okay, Noya, you're up," Daichi called, and Nishinoya approached them.

Daichi and Asahi gave him space, careful not to step on the beam they'd cut through, and Noya sat down on one of the stable beams, back to the first-years. The two watched him curiously, and their eyes steadily widened as Noya slowly but surely began leaning back, back until he had dropped, and was hanging from his legs from the beam. Daichi and Asahi came back next to him and tested the stability of the beam before stabilizing both of his knees.

"Senpai, please be careful! That's too dangerous," Hinata protested, watching as Noya dangled with his head only a few feet above the water line. If he extended his arms down, anything past his mid-forearm would probably be submerged.

"Don't worry about me. I'm going to catch you when you jump, alright?" Noya winked at them from his upside-down position. "I'm going to swing to come close, so jump when I'm closest. I want to catch your waist, so when you jump, try to grab onto one of my legs. And be careful that your feet don't touch the water. You might be more of a concern than Shouyo, Kageyama, but do you best. Once I've got you, Asahi and Daichi will pull you up to see Suga."

"Please be careful!" the vice-captain's voice came worriedly from the other side.

"Alright then." Kageyama wasn't too sure about the plan, but it was better than anything else they could come up with. Noya wasn't too far, and the gap to clear between them was only a few feet wide. However, in such a tight space, it might be hard for him to maneuver due to his height. Plus, Hinata had a badly sprained ankle, so he might even have trouble jumping. "I'll throw you Hinata's bag first. Then, Hinata, you can go ahead."

"What? Is it because you're scared, Bakayama?" Hinata pouted, but the setter rolled his eyes.

"Don't be a baby. It's because I want to be sure you make it. Someone's gotta go after you if you fall in like the stupid idiot you are," Kageyama rolled his eyes, and as they fell silent, neither of them mentioned what the setter had just implied. Instead, Kageyama busied himself with throwing Noya the backpack, which was quickly passed along to the guys up top. Then, all eyes went to the first-years again.

"Fine. I'll go first," Hinata sighed, and Kageyama helped him stand up. It was cramped with both of them on the small island, but Hinata took a step back as far as he could, whimpering when he applied pressure on his ankle.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Noya signaled, beginning to swing back and forth.

"We're ready up here," Daichi nodded, one hand on Noya's knee, and the other ready to grab Hinata as soon as he was within reach. Asahi silently held the same pose.

"Ready?" Kageyama looked at Hinata, whose face looked a little white. There was sweat on his forehead, but it was probably due to the pain of his ankle. "It'll only be for a second. Jump as far and as high as you can, as if you were spiking a volleyball, okay?"

"Got it," Hinata took a deep breath and let go of Kageyama's hand. The latter got out of his way as much as possible and watched him prep himself for the jump. "I'm gonna go on three, okay, senpai?"

"Got it!"

"Okay... One... Two..." Hinata took a deep breath, and put his weight equally on both feet. "Three!"

And as impressively as he always jumped during volleyball games, Hinata took two running steps, and his feet left solid ground. Sound was sucked out in the second that he spent airborne, and everybody held their breath.

And then, Hinata's arms were around Noya's left thigh, clinging on for dear life, and Noya had his forearms folded under his butt to push him up, and Hinata was crying out in pain whilst Asahi and Daichi struggled to pull him out of the tight hole they'd opened up.

And Hinata was out, and Kageyama could suddenly breathe.

"Okay Hinata, come here. Come here, Hinata," Suga was encouraging him as Asahi momentarily got up to help the smaller boy limp out of Kageyama's line of sight, towards Suga. Once Asahi returned, all eyes went to Kageyama again, and he waited for everyone to call their position before getting into his.

"Alright, Kageyama. Just be careful of the water," Noya reminded him, looking a little bit red in the face from hanging upside down for so long.

"Got it. Sorry in advance, I might be a little bit heavy," he warned.

"Don't worry about it. We're got strong guys up there to pick you up," the second-year winked, and began swinging again. "Now go for it."

"Okay," Kageyama nodded, and took a few steps back, until the water was lapping at his heels dangerous. "On three. One, two... three!"

He mimicked Hinata in taking two small running steps, and jumped. His timing was impeccable, as expected, and he managed to grab onto Noya's legs. Immediately, he felt his senpai's arms around his waist, and then two hands grabbing his sweater to pull him up. He helped them out by transferring his hands to the beams around him, and pulling himself up just until the two third-years could loop their hands under his armpits and get a better grip on him to pull him up.

They pulled him up until he could sit on one of the beams, and from then onward, it was easy enough to pull his legs out of the hole as well and get up.

"Kageyama, over here," Suga called him from a bit further away, on solid ground, and the setter went to meet his senpai whilst the third-years helped Noya out of the hole.

"I'm fine," he insisted as he dropped to his knees next to Sugawara, who was busy over Hinata's ankle. "Is he okay?"

"That's a really bad sprain, but it doesn't look broken," Suga assured him, wrapping a compression bandage over the cold pack he'd wrapped around Hinata's ankle. "There's probably some medication I can give him for it, but I'm going to have to check in my books when we get home. For now, two compression bandages and a cold pack will do. You sure you're okay?"

"Just cut up and bruised. I'll be fine," Kageyama promised, and Suga motioned him over anyway.

"Alright. Just to be safe, though, I'm going to clean that small burn you've got on your face right now, since burns keep burning the longer they are left untreated," he explained, wetting a compress with cold water and then applying it to his jaw, where, indeed, a red patch had resulted from splashing rain.

"Thank you," Kageyama sighed, holding the compress to his face, and then the gravity of the situation hit him. They were saved. "Really, thank you. For everything." He was already on his knees, so he just had to bow a little bit forward to express his gratitude, which left Suga understandably flustered.

"Not at all! Don't thank us for doing what was right, Kageyama," Suga waved him off a bit awkwardly. "We'd never leave you two behind, and that goes without saying."

"You're family now, so whether you like it or not, you're stuck with us," Noya's voice cut through their conversation, and Kageyama turned to see all three of his senpai walking up to them with relieved smiles on their faces.

And Kageyama was terribly, irrationally, incredibly happy to see them all together in one piece.

"I'm sorry we took so long, Kageyama, Hinata," Daichi apologized as Kageyama got up to meet him. "We would have come sooner if we could have. It must have been a scary experience to live through, being powerless in the face of advancing death."

"But we're fine thanks to you. So it's alright." It had been terrifying throughout, watching the water rise up to swallow them in a painful death without knowing if help would arrive on time. But if they remembered that they hadn't been forgotten, and if they kept believing in their friends, their _family_, they would make it through. And it had been that mentality that had allowed them to survive.

And later on, as the six of them walked back to the warehouse whilst discussing new plans and new findings, Kageyama found himself glancing often at Hinata's face, peacefully squished into Asahi's back as he slept while being carried. And there was something about that face that gave him hope, so that when they arrived at the gym in the late evening and they were greeted by the three who had remained there, Kageyama could only glance softly at them, and proudly call out; "We're home!".

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Headcanon: Kageyama's emotionally stunted and irrationally afraid of being abandoned because he hasn't had a good family. Not necessarily neglectful. Just... Not caring so much. IDK, I look into things too much. Psychologically looking at his character, I feel like he has trouble with people because he's never had constant human role-models in his life so idk. **

**Sulfuric acid is a sulfur-based chemical compound that reacts violently when mixed with water. It's what acid rain is made of IRL. In this AU, due to massive radiation, IDK what happened but the concentration of sulfuric acid in the rain is so huge that it can burn skin right off of you if you touch it. It also degrades metal and other things, like clothes or shoes, so these kids are gonna have to avoid the puddles for a while. Also, especially with chemical burns, even once the burn has cooled on the outside, it keeps burning on the inside, so it's important to continuously cool the burn to avoid secondary thermal burns. **

**I sprained my ankle like Hinata did while I was playing volleyball last weekend and let me tell you that shit is painful as fuck. So running/jumping was all adrenaline, cause his ankle came real close to breaking. His ankle's already the size of his fist and all black and blue (and probably red, bc he didn't take ibuprofen, unlike me ewe), the poor sweetheart.**

**Again, sorry for OOC. For some reason, Kageyama was incredibly hard to characterize, especially in relation to Hinata, and half the time I had no idea what I was doing (excuse the 20k words of nonsense). But the point that I tried to hammer home this time is that Karasuno is a family and Karasuno is all they have left, so like it or not, you're stuck with the wild big brothers and bitchy cousins ahah. **

**So! Next time! Let's say goodbye to Karasuno gym... Our kids are setting out. But to where? Is there a place for them, even, somewhere in this vast, lonely land?**

**Thanks for reading, you guys! And please please please leave a review if you liked/disliked! It's always so nice to have encouragements! ;u; **


	5. Constants

**Author's Note**

**22k words. Somebody needs to stop me. I'm serious, guys.**

**So before rambling on, I just want to thank everyone who's taken the time to comment on this fic. I really appreciate all your kind words and encouragements, since they're often the reason I keep writing. So thank you so much for your support, everybody! (Shoutout to the people on Tumblr who wrote asks about this story! You guys are the best ;u; My Tumblr is givemelibertea, by the way, if you have any questions or comments to make!)**

**I've gotten real busy watching Kuroko no Basket rn, sorry about the delay. Also, con season is coming up, and I sprained my finger at volleyball, so trying to type with a taped finger was pretty hard. Please forgive the spelling mistakes, if any.**

**This chapter has like... 4 changes of setting, so I'm sorry if things get confusing. For this reason, I am really dissatisfied with this one, but hey, it's something I had to get through to keep moving on with the story. **

**Warnings: Blood, kinda gory towards the end. **

**Please enjoy~**

* * *

><p>Tsukishima woke up again in the middle of the night, to the sound of nobody's panicked breathing but his own.<p>

"Again...?" he mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes tiredly for what seemed to be the umpteenth time. He lost count after the 4th time in two nights. At this point, time seemed to meld together in certain moments, and everything felt like one whole, really long day, ever since the incident.

The incident...

The blond turned his head slightly to the side, observing the figure sleeping next to him. Yamaguchi was curled up with his back to Tsukishima, facing Tanaka. The second-year had rolled close to Yamaguchi, and actually had his hand out within reach, in case Yamaguchi woke up and needed something to hang on to.

It pissed Tsukishima off, that his very own best friend would not rely on him in time of need.

"Whatever," he huffed, laying back down, and glaring at the ceiling. Several places over, Kageyama mumbled something in what seemed to be a rather restless sleep, and shifted noisily in his sleeping bag. Tsukishima figured it was because the orange-haired brat was still stuck in the infirmary with that busted ankle of his.

And in a way, Tsukishima understood him, because they were both going through the same thing right now. Having to cope with the fact that their best friends were hurt, and that they could do nothing to help them.

But hell if he'd actually admit it to the setter.

His thoughts circled back into his head as he closed his heavy eyelids. He ought to get some sleep, since tomorrow was bound to be a big day, so he did his best to relax, despite the circumstances.

He was almost asleep when Yamaguchi shifted next to him, turning around to face him instead. He said nothing, but Tsukishima swore he felt a weight in one of his limp hands. However, he was too sleepy to check, and within the following minutes, was dead asleep.

Yamaguchi's eyes, half-lidded and burdened with immeasurable sadness, followed the gentle flutter of his eyelashes throughout the night.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Breakfast was a quiet moment. Everyody seemed to be concentrating on eating whatever food they could scrape up. Once in a while, Suga would fuss over Hinata, who had woken up unable to bear weight on his leg at all, but then the silence would blanket them again.

It was comforting, for whatever it was worth. But every time Daichi opened his mouth, seemingly to say something, the entire room froze and the team held their breaths in apprehension.

But Daichi ended up saying nothing. That in itself was a relief, but also incredibly worrying at the same time. Suga kept eyeing him throughout the whole morning, even when they all vacated to their routine chores and activities, and so there was a tense silence in the air most of the time.

Finally, it was Asahi that broke the silence, and rather surprisingly at that.

"Daichi," he called out loud when everybody was occupying themselves on the gym floor somehow. The boys idly tossing one another a volleyball stopped, and the ones reading books and maps looked up curiously. All conversation ceased, and all eyes went to the third-years, who seemed to be slightly uncomfortable with being put on the spot.

"Yeah?" Daichi finally replied, eyes glancing to the side to find Suga's reassuring presence next to him.

"Are you going to tell them yet?"

"Tell us what?" Noya jumped in almost immediately, dragging everybody into a state of high alert with him.

"We were going to address the issue when we figured out how to do it," Suga sighed, giving Daichi a break from the confrontation. "It's a big topic, and, well... it's not that easy to announce."

"What's going on?" Hinata asked, eyes wide. "Did something happen?"

"Well... Daichi and I were talking for a while and discussed an ultimatum with Asahi this morning... We just didn't know how to get you guys in on it," Suga answered, looking ready to diffuse any tension that might develop. That in itself was an aggravating attitude to have, and the room suddenly swelled with tension.

"What's this about?" Tanaka questioned, eyes narrowing. "You were going to tell us eventually, right?"

"Of course," Daichi answered this time, voice as steady as ever. They all took a moment to admire how strong he was through all this, but then, the questions came back.

"So. What's this about?" Kageyama prompted.

And suddenly, all eyes were back on Daichi, who seemed to be unable to take all the stares.

"Well, we've all thought about it on and off for a while now. It's just that we've finally come to terms with the decision and we've made it for good," he rambled on, too obviously for anybody to miss.

"Don't beat around the bush," Asahi softly pushed him. "We've all been through worse. We can take it."

"It's not an easy thing to say nonetheless," Suga defended Daichi, as expected. "It's a very heavy decision to make."

"All of our lives are hanging in the balance after making this decision," Daichi wrung his hands nervously. "So you understand that, well..."

He trailed off, and the tense silence felt like it would explode.

"Captain." Finally, it was Tsukishima who broke the shaky truce, staring straight at Daichi. "The decision you've made. It's about leaving the gym for good, isn't it?"

The silence seemed to become heavier and heavier in the span of the few seconds it took for Daichi to lick his lips and nod.

"Yeah." And suddenly, the tension was gone, replaced by an overwhelming feeling of despair. "Yeah, we're leaving. Tomorrow morning. We're packing our bags and heading out."

More silence.

Almost as if nobody even knew how to handle the news.

But the last few days had been trying for all of them. One danger after the other, there had been an almost constant weight on all of their shoulders up to now. So really, it was sad, but expected, to see all of the Karasuno team members lower their gazes in defeat, having given up without even fighting it.

For the first time, they'd backed down from a challenge. Even if that challenge was arguably worth picking up.

"It doesn't have to be a bad thing," Suga tried comforting them all, his own voice choked and tense. "We'll have more access to resources if we move to a new place. And we can probably find help if we head towards more populated areas. We're gonna be okay." But he hardly seemed to be convincing even himself, let alone the others.

Briefly, through the thoughts muddling his mind, Tsukishima glanced to his side, where Yamaguchi was staring up at Daichi. His eyes, as they'd been since the incident, were devoid of emotion, as if there was nothing left inside of him to react with. And Karasuno was a constant for Yamaguchi, one of the only things he had left for him. Leaving what they'd all considered to be a home for them all since they came together under one roof would definitely stunt his recovery.

And yet, Karasuno had also been a safe haven for them until Yamaguchi had been attacked inside of it. It felt like a sort of betrayal, and now the walls that had once protected them seemed to be trapping them. So in the end, being unable to read Yamaguchi's emotions in regards to the news announced kept Tsukishima from gauging whether or not the decision was beneficial or not.

It frustrated the hell out of him.

He got up without even trying to hide the weakness in his limbs and the sway in his step. He had no words, but apparently, Suga did. Suga always did.

"Tsukishima. Where are you going?" And the blond felt all eyes go on him, though the team was mostly caught up in their own thoughts to care much.

"Shower," he answered gruffly.

"There's no electricity today, either. You'll freeze," Suga warned him in a worried tone, and suddenly, the frustration flared inside of him.

He felt like they were all being babied, but at the same time, that they weren't being taken care of enough. The contradiction made everything so complicated, and he didn't know how to feel about anybody anymore.

Least of all Yamaguchi, whose dull eyes he could feel on his back.

"I don't give a damn," he spat out, and stalked off to cool his head, rather literally. He could hear a few people call him back half-heartedly, but nobody pursued the issue, nor him as he made his way to the locker room.

And deep inside, he figured as he grabbed a (probably) clean towel and started undressing, he was upset as well that they were leaving. He'd personally considered the Karasuno gym as a home, and a safe place where they would stay until help arrived for them. It was foolish to even think of it that way in the first place. Tsukishima knew better than anybody that constants were never constant.

"_I'll be with you until the end, you hear me, Kei? No matter what happens."_

Tsukishima had lost everything already, so the feeling of loss that welled up inside of him was frustrating. He should be used to loss by now, and should be desensitized to pain. He'd lost so much more than a home to this goddamn war; he'd lost his family, too. And now, he was losing his second home... Would he be forced to forfeit his second family as well?

Was Tsukishima Kei just not destined to have stability and safety in his life?

The water was freezing, as Sugawara had predicted, but it hardly bothered Tsukishima as he sat down under the spray. Very soon, he was shivering and his teeth were clattering, but the cold took his mind off of the pain that was slowly but surely poisoning his entire system. Whatever was coursing through him did not feel like sadness. Rather, it felt akin to anger, in the sense that it caused his blood to boil, his hands to shake, and his teeth to clench.

He figured he would be angry at how unfair this life was to him. Angry at how they'd all been left alone to 'deal with it', as if a fucking nuclear apocalypse was some sort of teenage drama that a bunch of high-schoolers could work through on their own. Angry that he wasn't able to be as strong as he wanted to be, and angry that he couldn't help in places where his contribution mattered the most.

But then, as angry sobs began spilling from his lips and burning tears began spilling from his eyes, he realized that he was sad. It was just another type of sadness than usual, one that he hadn't let himself feel so far, just because it would surely drag him down.

But he'd hit rock bottom at this point. There was nothing left for him anymore.

So he bit his hand to muffle the frustrated cries escaping him, and let the anguish consume him.

He let himself evacuate all of his frustration and let all of his pain wash down the drain with the freezing water raining on him. Finally, though, when his heaving breathing calmed down, he suddenly felt the chill seep into his bones, and slowly stood up to turn the water off. Once it was off, he stayed standing for a little while, droplets dripping off of him with the rest of his sadness, and finally, once he felt composed enough, he pulled the curtain back to get out of the shower.

Right in front of him, seated on the bench facing the shower stalls, holding his towel, was Yamaguchi.

Letting out a surprised noise, Tsukishima pulled the curtain back in front of him, more out of reflex than anything else, and then waited for the thundering of his heart to calm down a bit.

"I didn't hear you come in," he finally addressed his best friend. "What are you doing here?"

As expected, Yamaguchi did not answer him. In fact, the dark-haired boy had not answered anybody since the incident. Asides from the occasional whimper in his sleep, no noise had come from him so far.

"Fine," Tsukishima sighed, rubbing his eyes in exasperation. He felt like he was talking to himself. "Can you hand me my towel and glasses, at least?"

The wooden bench creaked when Yamaguchi stood up, and Tsukishima was suddenly grateful that his friend could at least understand them still, even if he wasn't communicating. A hand came through the curtains, bearing a towel that Tsukishima promptly wrapped around his waist. The cold had finally seeped in, and he was shivering by the time Yamaguchi handed him his glasses.

Stepping out from behind the curtain, he made his way to the bench and plopped down on it, waiting to dry. It probably wasn't the best idea, considering that the locker room was cold in itself, but at this point, Tsukishima was too weak and too cold to care.

Yamaguchi came and sat next to him, but said nothing. That in itself irked Tsukishima a bit, but he had no idea how his friend was feeling at that moment. He'd been through something highly traumatic, so of course he'd have changes in his behaviour. However, the lack of response from him was worrying. Tsukishima expected tears, anger, helplessness, even violence from his friend. He didn't expect silence.

It felt like Yamaguchi had killed himself, too, when he'd pulled the trigger on his captor.

"Does it still hurt anywhere?" he finally decided to ask, knowing it was fruitless. However, he'd been in the infirmary when Suga had patched up all of Yamaguchi's injuries, and despite the small nature of all of his wounds, he still couldn't help but be worried.

As expected, there was silence. The smaller boy didn't even move to acknowledge the question.

"I heard you move last night, too. I hope you're getting enough sleep, or else you won't be able to keep up with the move," Tsukishima noted as well, totally skipping the question since he knew there would be no answer.

At least to that, Yamaguchi hesitated a bit before nodding once.

Tsukishima left it at that.

The shivers dancing across his skin were still bothering him, and his fingers and toes were annoyingly cold, making him rub his feet and hands together idly. None of it actually helped, but it was a comforting and familiar gesture.

One of the only familiar things left for him, anyway. If there was one thing he'd gotten from this entire experience, it was that there would never be anybody more reliable than himself. He was the only constant in his own life at this point.

But then, suddenly, there was a warm hand on his upper arm, fingers softly but securely anchored on his skin, clutching just enough to remind him that there was something still out there for him.

"It's cold," Yamaguchi's raspy voice rang out in a whisper for the first time in days, scratchy from disuse. However, Tsukishima wondered if he was referring to the temperature of his skin, or the physical sensation given off by the emptiness he surely must be feeling.

It was his turn not to answer. And when he found comfort in the silence between them, he wondered if this is what Yamaguchi had been feeling all along.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

It was a rather saddening sight to see all of Karasuno's possessions being stacked up against the gym wall. All the sleeping arrangements and makeshift furniture were brought down from the landing and stacked, and the entire infirmary was moved and taken down as well. The teardown of the space that they'd become so familiarized with was heartbreaking. Every object seemed to have a significance to it, a significance that was being destroyed as they were all pushed against the wall in categories.

In the end, the gym ended up looking like some sort of organized junkyard. It also made the boys conscious of how much stuff they actually had piled up in their cozy little home.

Which would be home no more, after that night.

The thought in itself was like a heavy weight just hovering over their heads, threatening to crush every single one of them if they let their eyes linger on one spot for too long.

The day had passed all too quickly. Tearing down had been a silent affair for all of them, so much that when they were finally done and stepped back to admire their depressing handiwork, they found that they could not speak.

Dinner was also a silent moment for them all to recollect themselves. The cold canned potatoes and peas were as tasteless as ever, but not a single peep came from any of them. All eyes were on the cans, as if by staring long and hard enough, the mess that was the gym would have gone back to normal by the time they looked up.

But everything was still as they were set up when dinner was over, and the inescapable truth finally washed over them like a midnight tide.

"Let's start packing," Daichi finally suggested, breaking a stubborn silence that had pervaded the usually jovial atmosphere for hours by then. With small noises of acknowledgement, the members all lined up in front of the stacks of stuff that once used to be their home, and blankly looked up at the pile, then at one another.

"We should categorize, so we don't lose ourselves," Suga suggested. "Like... I'll take the medical equipment. Maybe Asahi can take the stuff we picked out to build tents out in the open. Daichi, you can take the maps, obviously, and all the miscellaneous items..."

"Good idea," the captain nodded. "Tanaka and Nishinoya, you two pack all of our consumer items. Kageyama and Hinata, take care of clothes."

"Hinata still can't walk on his own, though," Kageyama argued without much bite to his voice, nudging the boy sitting down next to him to prove his point.

"Doesn't mean I'm useless," Hinata mumbled with something akin to fear underlining his irritated tone. Nobody mentioned it, but nobody also mentioned that Hinata would never be left behind, no matter what. At this point, it seemed to be common knowledge, and repeating it felt redundant, and frankly, embarrassing.

"Of course not," Suga shook his head with a sad smile. "But let's see what we can do. I don't have crutches for you to use, so until we can get some, or you get better, how about we have Asahi carry you around? In return, you'd have to carry his bags as well as your own, but that's hardly anything worth mentioning."

"Eh, are you sure?" Hinata asked, insecurity brimming in his eyes. "Asahi, aren't I too heavy?" he turned to the third-year in questioning.

"Not really. You hardly weigh anything at all," Asahi laughed sheepishly. "If I carry you and our bags, it'll be like carrying a regular-sized person."

"Don't call me short," Hinata huffed under his breath, making a few people chuckle.

"It'll be fine like that. It's only until you can walk on your own again," Daichi reassured him, and then turned to the two first-years that hadn't been addressed yet. "Yamaguchi, would you mind splitting medical supplies with Suga? You two would know how to make the best use of them, after all."

The teen looked up at his captain, and nodded softly, not looking too sure of himself. There was a small silence that lasted about a second and a half before it started stagnating.

Tsukishima hated how the silence almost reeked of pity. And he knew that Yamaguchi hated it, too, but was too shy to mention it.

"And I'll pack beddings tomorrow morning. For now, I'll lay them out and help the midgets grab things that are stacked too high for them," he volunteered, smirking when Hinata let out an indignant squawk, as if personally targeted by the insult.

"That settles it. Let's get to work. Once we've got everything packed, let's take one last shower and then get some rest. We'll leave at dawn tomorrow," Daichi called out, and a collective, but tired cry of acknowledgement answered him. People soon vacated to their duties, grabbing backpacks and sling bags to fill up with their assigned items, making small talk all the way.

Yamaguchi had disappeared in a second, and when Tsukishima blinked a second time, he saw his friend by Suga's side, silently listening to whatever the setter was explaining. He didn't seem to be too bothered by whatever was happening, and this blank emotional state was the most worrying bit for Tsukishima. Yamaguchi had always been the quieter of the two, but he was snarky, cheerful and energetic the rest of the time. Now... now he just felt like an empty shell.

Tsukishima clicked his tongue and turned his eyes away, beginning to drag out the mattresses and lining them up against the wall. He first set out the mattresses one next to the other, and then the futons. The sleeping bags came last, and then he opened up the thin covers on the beds. The final touch was the pillows, and then he was done.

Looking up, he found everybody still working on maximizing the space in their backpacks, arguing whilst shoving things in there. Surprisingly enough, Hinata and Kageyama seemed to be the two most cooperative ones, Kageyama throwing Hinata the clothes he found in the pile, and Hinata folding them and setting them into neat piles by articles of clothing. Both of them seemed to be quiet, in contrast to Nishinoya and Tanaka, who were rowdy as always, and Tsukishima figured that they were still shaken from whatever happened to them on that raid.

Raids never seemed to be a good idea for anybody.

"_It'll be fine, you'll see. We'll be back with plenty of food for mom and dad, and we'll be okay. We'll all be okay."_

Nothing ever seemed to be okay for him, or anybody he bothered to give a damn about.

Caring about people ended up killing them. Tsukishima felt like a curse upon every person he'd ever gotten close to, willingly or otherwise.

Perhaps that was why Yamaguchi was the way he was. Tsukishima was not superstitious, but there was no other explanation. He'd killed his entire family. And now, he was beginning to corrupt his second family.

Tsukishima felt like a blight on Karasuno's skin that no amount of hope could purify.

Suddenly feeling like the most useless person on this godforsaken planet, Tsukishima stood up to try and shake off the nausea welling up in his throat. However, every step he took towards Daichi with the intention of seeking out new tasks to complete made him feel heavier and heavier, so that when he stopped behind his captain's turned back, he was ready to throw up.

"What else can I do in the meantime?" he asked in a low voice, not trusting himself to sound anything akin to confident at the moment.

Visibly startled, Daichi fumbled with whatever he had been holding in his hands, and then turned around. Tsukishima's eyes immediately went to the small cardboard box in his hands, and his eyes caught the glint of black metal within it. And immediately, he knew what it was. Bile rose up in his throat and he swallowed several times to push it down.

"I'm sorry," Daichi whispered, noting his discomfort and associating Tsukishima's pale face to the sight of the gun that had nearly taken his best friend's life. "I was just thinking..."

The gun had obviously been cleaned on the outside, wiped down until there was no trace of death left on it. However, like his own hands, Tsukishima knew that the blood on the gun would always exist, even if it wasn't visible. And knowing that Yamaguchi's fingerprints were on the trigger also disturbed him greatly. The gun had destroyed everything in his best friend's life. Yamaguchi had stood behind the trigger, but somehow in the end, he still had been on the receiving end of the shot.

It disgusted him to know that such a small and innocent-looking object could rob people of something as precious as their heart and soul in the blink of an eye. It wasn't fair to the person staring down the barrel, wondering if their life would end before they could take their next breath. And it certainly wasn't fair to the person whose finger shook on the trigger, wondering if their life was worth the life of their target.

The cursed object glinting in the dim light of the dying sun filtering through the windows glared at Tsukishima, as if laughing at his misery. As if it was flaunting the fact that despite promising safety to one man, and making another a victim, it always ended up creating two victims.

"Keep it," he found himself saying, and the nausea reared its ugly head again. He stood speechless for a second, wondering what the hell had taken him to say something like that, and even Daichi seemed flabbergasted that Tsukishima would suggest something like that. However, his tongue was not his anymore, and he kept saying things he didn't even realize he'd been thinking. "Keep the gun. It hurt all of us a lot, but it also kept us alive. And as long as we're alive, there's always hope."

No, no there wasn't. Tsukishima didn't want to say all of these things. He didn't think them at all. There was no hope for any of them anymore. He was just lying to himself and to the others at this point. And yet, no matter how hard he tried to bite his tongue, the words still seemed to tumble out.

"So keep it, and keep it safe. It's best if we never have to use it, but if we ever have to, it'll be because we are protecting the only hope we have left."

"Tsukishima..." Daichi trailed off, not even knowing what to say. "But... What happened to Tadashi..."

"Wasn't anybody's fault," Tsukishima completed, terrifying himself with how empty he felt while saying those words. As if he was simply articulating out syllables, instead of speaking out words. "And we sure as hell shouldn't close doors on ourselves because of one accident. If one of us is in a dangerous situation again, this gun could be the difference between their life and their death." Or their agonizing dying moments and a quick death.

"Didn't realize you were the type to consider all of these things," Daichi commented to try and dispel the depressing mood that had suddenly spawned overhead.

"Well, there's just no way all this junk can be carried with any less than 9 people," the blond huffed, which made Daichi crack a smile.

"Right. So we're not letting anybody leave anymore," Daichi assured him as if he could read Tsukishima's anxiety-riddled thoughts. "We're together until the end on this one."

"Sure," Tsukishima replied half-heartedly, unable to take his captain's stare anymore. Instead, his eyes searched for something to observe, and finally, his gaze settled on Yamaguchi, neatly working on packing medical supplies into a backpack with Suga.

Daichi followed his gaze and gave him a moment in his own bubble, in which he set down the box with the gun with the rest of the objects he was packing. When he stood up, though, he found Tsukishima still looking at Yamaguchi, unblinking. He, too, took a moment to watch his kouhai work silently under Suga's direction, and a saddened expression crossed his face.

"So..." he began, grabbing Tsukishima's attention again. "How are things holding up?"

Tsukishima did not like the way the question was worded, and did not look at Daichi to answer.

"Fine. He spoke briefly to me this morning. He'll be okay." He wasn't even sure who he was convincing anymore.

"That's good, but that's also not what I was asking," Daichi answered almost immediately, and that shocked Tsukishima enough to make him turn back to face Daichi. There was a sober, serious look on the captain's face, and the blond actually shivered slightly at the weight of the information being asked of him.

"_If you tell me what's wrong, I'll definitely tell you what to do to make things right again."_

"I'm fine," he finally replied, a bitter taste settling in his mouth at the memory that resurfaced all of a sudden, at the annoyingly warm and comforting voice that resonated in his head and that refused to leave him alone.

And suddenly, dinner was coming back up.

"I've gotta go," was all he managed to choke out before his legs were carrying him away from the inquisitive stares of the eight other Karasuno members, into the locker rooms, past the lockers, into the bathroom stalls, to his knees, and then-

And then, there were hot, bitter tears sliding down and plopping into the toilet with his stomach contents, and Tsukishima could not bring himself to care.

"Nothing is going to make things right again," he sniffled rather pathetically, glad he was totally alone with his thoughts. Or perhaps that was the curse that was plaguing him. Perhaps he needed to stop insisting on facing his nightmares alone. But then, he couldn't share his thoughts with anybody but the voice in every single one of them. "Nothing is going to be alright anymore." Kei slumped against the wall, defeat tasting like stomach acid on his tongue. "Stop lying to me, Akiteru."

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

There was something foreign about sleeping on the mattresses on the gym floor. It felt too weird not to be on the landing anymore, and to all be sleeping back to back rather than in individual beds. It reminded them, rather unpleasantly, of the three days they spent in the undergrounds of the school, cuddled next to one another under blankets of dust swallowed by the darkness, but it felt like nothing would ever compare to the fear that had permeated their every breathing moment at that time. Not even the uncertainty of their future was as terrifying as the time when the uncertainty of their present had been predominant.

As if mocking them, the weather had turned sour in the night, heavy winds whipping a violent rain against the covered windows. In the total darkness, the only noise was that of the tarp ruffling noisily, and if the Karasuno team members were not already being kept awake by their insecurities, they definitely would have been kept awake by the infernal noise. Nobody spoke, but the constant shifting of the bodies next to one another proved that none of them were actually asleep.

And then, as the rain let up, one by one the teenagers went into whatever troubled sleep they could get in the few hours they had left before dawn. Slowly, the sound of breathing evened out, and the gentle reassurance that they were all still alive and together gave them all the peace of mind they needed to slip into a dreamless unconsciousness.

Dreamless, for all but one.

Tsukishima's awakening in the early hours of the morning was rather violent, a suffocating terror grasping him by the heartstrings and dragging him out of his sleep rather abruptly. His heart leapt in his throat as his consciousness returned, and in those few seconds, he felt like he was drowning and falling at the same time.

And when he shot up with hysteric words dying on his lips, it took him a few seconds to realize that he had been crying his brother's name in his sleep.

"_Just call for me, I'll be there for you."_

The memory made his heart ache, because Kei was calling for a brother who did not exist anymore. And he didn't want to do that anymore, he didn't want Akiteru to haunt his every waking moment and every dream and nightmare he saw behind closed eyelids. So Tsukishima closed his eyes, and buried his face in his hands to compose himself for a moment.

The early morning light was filtering through the makeshift curtains they had set up on the windows all around the gym. It was red and orange, a fiery hue that reminded Tsukishima of blood. Slowly, when he drew his face out of his hands, once his heart settled in his chest again, he looked down at the faint outline of his shaking fingers now visible in the light. He clicked his tongue in displeasure at the display of weakness, and for one moment, wondered if he would ever stop being haunted by the consequences of his mistakes. Maybe it just wasn't his fate. Or his right.

His eyes caught a glint in the early morning light. Slowly, he turned his head, and then looked down, freezing in place when he saw Yamaguchi's wide eyes staring right at him. The innocent look in his eyes was obviously a trick of the light, since Tsukishima knew that Yamaguchi's gaze was empty, as usual. And it was kind of creepy, since Yamaguchi never seemed to sleep anymore.

That brought up the question of whether or not that was a speculation, or an actual reality.

Tsukishima opened his mouth to ask, but surprisingly, Yamaguchi beat him to the punch.

"You can't sleep soundly anymore, ever since the other day."

The sound of his raspy, low voice was so surprising that Tsukishima had to take a moment to realize that he'd actually spoken. And when he registered the words, he turned his eyes away, bristling.

"Shut up. Every single time I see you, you're not sleeping. Don't criticize me."

Yamaguchi did not reply to him, and did not even move. When he blinked for a second too long, Tsukishima swore that he looked like he was asleep, and that Tsukishima was hallucinating his voice. Just like he was hallucinating Akiteru's voice.

But then, Yamaguchi's eyes were wide open and looking back up at him, and it was unnerving to be put on the spot like that. The rest of Karasuno seemed to be asleep (they were all light sleepers these days, so it was never a given), but Tsukishima felt like the whole world was looking at him.

"Akiteru wasn't your fault."

"Shut up." Tsukishima's whole world seemed to freeze for the second it took him to suck in a breath. "Shut up. Don't talk about him."

Yamaguchi's covers ruffled lightly as Tsukishima saw his outline moving into a slow shrug. And suddenly, he felt bad for being so rude. But obviously, he didn't want to break the silence. That wasn't his job.

"Forgive yourself and learn from what happened."

With that, Yamaguchi turned his back to Tsukishima and stilled. The blond was left to think about those words until the sun rose and Daichi's watch began ringing to announce a new day.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Not a lot of them seemed to be rested when they got up. As if giving them a parting gift, the gym was running power long enough for them to cook breakfast on their electric stove tops. While Suga busied himself with a light breakfast of canned vegetable and tomato soup, the boys packed up the covers into bags, leaving the pillows for they were too bulky to be transported. The sleeping bags were rolled up and set by the door with the other backpacks and sling bags that were ready to be picked up on their final way out.

The sun had barely even finished rising when they were done with breakfast. Everyone cleaned their dishes in the locker room sink and then packed them up tightly wherever there was place, and soon, there was nothing left to do but leave.

Daichi's watch showed 6:27AM when he finally stood in front of the silent teenagers sitting in a circle, and everybody knew that it was time. He didn't need to say anything for the team to stand up and fall into a silent procession towards the door. Slowly, still without a word, they began picking up all of their things, until each one of them looked like a pack mule ready to go on a long, long journey.

And then, during the last check at a glance to make sure that nothing had been forgotten, Hinata spoke up.

"Can I write something on the floor?" he asked softly, surprising everybody around him.

"Sure, I guess. Permanent marker?" Daichi shrugged, and when Hinata nodded, he dug into his backpack for the pack of permanent markers he carried around. In the meantime, Kageyama helped Hinata get off of Asahi's back and go to Daichi.

Curiously, the team watched as Hinata lowered himself to the floor, and uncapped the marker. It hovered over the dusty gymnasium floor for a second, before there were long lines, and then big characters, and then large-font words in front of their eyes.

_Remember Karasuno. Remember that we lived._

Shakily, Hinata signed his full name, _Shoyo Hinata_, in a smaller font next to the message.

And Daichi was second to understand and approach, signing _Daichi Sawamura_ by the other's side.

One by one, very silently, all the other members approached as well, passing one another the marker. The gym was filled with the scratching noise of ink on floor, reminding them of the sound of shoes on the court in the days in which they used to be carefree.

Soon, all around the message, nine names had been scrawled out, and the sight of it was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

"We should go," Suga finally whispered, breaking the trance that all the members seemed to be in.

"Yeah..." Daichi nodded, unable to keep the sadness off of his face at the thought of this goodbye.

They wouldn't be back here, probably ever. And if they did come back, it would never be the same for any of them. If this part of Japan ever got reconstructed in their lifetime, they'd all be separated and would be unable to return to the place where they'd prematurely buried their innocence.

This goodbye would indeed be a farewell.

Wordlessly, the teenagers walked out of the gym in a single file line, glancing back at the dark gym one last time before crossing through the door frame for one last time.

Tsukishima was the last to come out, closing the pace after Yamaguchi, and was almost out before something called him back, and he couldn't help but turn around again. The walls seemed to whisper in the voices of his comrades past and present, and when he looked at the court, he swore he could hear the squeaking of shoes. The thumping of a ball on the ground. The smack of it hitting a spiker's or a blocker's hand.

Tsukishima suddenly felt warm as he remembered. The voices. The laughter. The encouragements. The hours spent lost in their own little world of sets and spikes and blocks and receives, the stability found in the single constant that was volleyball in their daily hectic lives.

And then he felt cold as the voices disappeared, and the gym seemed darker than ever. The piled up equipment seemed to cast unrealistically long and pitch black shadows that seemed to swallow everything up. And soon, Tsukishima was staring at what essentially was an abandoned building, an old establishment, a previously inhabited place, and a broken home.

He closed the door behind him swiftly, hoping to lock his regrets in the gym with the rest of their memories. Not necessarily to condemn them, but to return to them once his future was insured well enough to allow him to make amends with his past.

For now, he had to discard everything he had behind those closed doors, and become a new Tsukishima, the Tsukishima that they needed now in order to survive.

Their departure was anticlimactic in that sense. It came down to a closed door and clenched fists as they began walking without looking back. Backs loaded with equipment, faces set with solemn frowns, they advanced. And when the autumn breeze blew gently, the ruffling of the black banner hung up on the building punctuated the staccato of their unfaltering steps, saluting their courage and waving them off towards the horizon, where a new sun was slowly rising.

"Fly, Karasuno!"

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

In the end, it was decided that they would head for Tokyo, since as the capital of the country, most relief efforts would probably be centered there. During the lunch break of day one, Daichi opened up a map and calculated that if they slept 8 hours a night and spent 2 hours a day for meals, raids, and other pausing needs, they should make it to Tokyo in just below a week's time. Not wanting to get lost, either, they all agreed to walk on the freeways rather than take the pedestrian route to Tokyo.

They had moments where they would talk as they walked. Other moments where they would fall into a silence that either put them at ease or made them uncomfortable. Always as dutiful, Suga and Asahi collaborated (with Hinata's interjected comments from Asahi's back) to create a schedule, since they all needed a routine, a constant to hold on to when their entire world was swept out from under their very feet.

They would wake at 6:30AM, and leave their camp at 7AM. At 11AM, they would take a short fifteen minute breather, and then set out again until 1PM, for lunch. At 5PM, they'd take another break, and then tough it out until 9:30PM, where they'd set up camp and have dinner, with curfew at 10:30PM. And then, they would rinse and repeat. In theory, it was a good plan. In practice, too, they hoped.

All in all, it was an adventure in the making, but not one that they were very enthusiastic about.

The first day was uneventful, to their relief. However, it did give them an idea of how strenuous walking under the bloody sky all day was, and suddenly, a week felt like forever.

They made it out of the town and onto a stretch of freeway that was surrounded by nothing but wilderness. At first, the leafless trees and dried up plants did not faze them as they tried to disregard the morose landscape, but then, as they advanced, and sat down for lunch, and then a break, and then felt the vegetation crunch under their feet when the cloudy night plunged them into darkness, they realized that they may as well be the last things alive on the entire island.

They set up camp further in the field, away from the freeway in case survivors passed by in cars and decided to surprise them in a more unpleasant way than necessary. The weather had gotten kind of chilly as soon as the sun had dropped behind the horizon, so it was a rather unpleasant experience to set up their amenities for the night. Bodies sore and aching from the long day of non-stop walking, Karasuno began vacating to their self-appointed tasks. Noya, Tanaka and Kageyama went to gather firewood for a campfire, whilst Asahi and Daichi set up a rudimentary tent from a tarp stretched out and secured with ropes and a few wooden rods. In the meantime, Suga helped Hinata do his ankle-rehabilitating exercises and gave him his meds, and Yamaguchi silently got busy figuring out what they'd have for dinner.

Tsukishima found himself heading for his friend, who was browsing through the contents of Noya's backpack pensively.

"What are we eating tonight?" he asked, looking down over him. Yamaguchi stopped for a moment and turned around, shrugging with an uninterested look on his face. "Whatever. Fine."

Turning around, he got ready to leave, probably to see if he was needed anywhere. Although he highly doubted it, since it never seemed like he could be of use. Tsukishima always felt like he was an extra, and one that didn't even contribute.

"Why don't you ever say anything?" he suddenly asked, clenching his teeth. He could feel Yamaguchi's eyes on his back, and the frustration of being helpless in every situation welled up inside of him.

"There's never anything to say," Yamaguchi answered after a second of hesitation. Tsukishima turned back to face him, not understanding what he meant, but then there was the blank look in his eyes, and he knew everything.

"I'll get you to talk again," he found himself promising, surprisingly at that. Suddenly embarrassed, he began walking away, to go occupy his mind with work, any work at all. "You can't say things like that as if you'd given up. There's plenty left for you out here."

There was plenty of life for Yamaguchi to experience.

But Tsukishima wasn't so sure about that for himself.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

It rained at night, and the first few minutes with the droplets pounding on the tarp stretched overhead were the most frightening they'd all experienced in a while. All of their eyes were open wide, bodies pressed against one another to keep out the cold and the shivers, shame having long been thrown out the window in favour of their survival instincts.

Nobody dared breathe for a while, wondering if the acid would eat through the tarp during the night, but at some point, they became so habituated to the fear that one by one, they began falling asleep. Only Nishinoya, the first night watch, stayed awake, silently observing the rise and fall of his comrades' shoulders to the background lull of the rain.

Somehow, they did not die that night. And somehow, that made the morning even better.

Hell, even the breakfast beans were almost appetizing. _Almost. _Victory can only taste so good, after all.

There was a new bounce to their steps as they packed up, lethargy clinging to them like the apprehension that seemed to be a part of them at this point. However, something about the morning seemed brighter than usual.

By the time the sun had come up entirely, Karasuno was already heading out towards the greener pastures. Or so they hoped.

They deviated to go through a small town on the second day. Predictably, it was in ruins as well, but an hour of well-organized raiding later, their backpacks were once again full with food and water. That in itself was a boost to their morale as well. They pushed on with heavy bags and heavy hearts.

The landscape slowly began to change as they advanced towards the capital. The greenery had been dead and dried up where they started, but as they advanced, it felt less like life had left the land, and more like life had been robbed of the land. Wilted plants and muddy lakes gave way to uprooted trees and dried up rivers. As the days cycled on, it felt more and more like the entire country had become one big graveyard.

The towns were no different. The boys tried not to stop in town often, but supplies always needed to be replenished, so they couldn't help it. They also couldn't help but notice the state of the towns they visited. The closer they got to Tokyo, the more destroyed and abandoned the towns seemed to be.

"I think you were right, Daichi," Suga noted as they started walking on the freeway again, weaving through the cars stopped in an eternal traffic jam. "Tokyo was probably the epicentre of the nuclear explosion, if that town was hardly anything to go by."

"What town?" Tanaka grumbled, weariness lacing his every word. "I just saw a bunch of piles of rubble, I dunno about you."

"Don't worry, Tanaka-senpai," Hinata tried to comfort him from the rather uncomfortable position he was in, pressed against Kageyama's side. He'd begun walking that morning, and although bearing weight still hurt, he could hobble along well enough with Kageyama's support. "I'm sure the next town will have supplies for us, for sure."

"Well, I don't think so," Tsukishima added in gruffly. "Think about it. As we get closer to Tokyo, the impact of the explosion has taken out more and more of the surroundings. Hell, Tokyo itself is probably one big crater right now. We're not gonna find anything anymore from this point on."

"You're such a pessimist, Tsukishima," Noya rolled his eyes. "You never know. There might be an exception somewhere."

"Yeah, something like that is called a miracle. And we don't get miracles. It just doesn't happen," Tsukishima replied without skipping a beat. And the entire party stopped talking, the words resonating with a kind of morbid truth in their minds. "What are we even going to do in Tokyo? If it's the epicentre of the blast, there won't be anything left. And the closer we get, the more radiation we get, so instead of going there, we should actually turn back and get as far away from Tokyo as possible."

"What you say makes sense, I'm not saying it doesn't," Daichi sighed, not looking back. Instead, he looked at the blood red sky, darkened due to the advancing evening. "But... it's our only lead so far. If it is the epicentre, there will definitely be professionals there to contain the radiation, or to conduct a test or another. So all we have to do is find somebody, anybody at this point, who is a professional, and they'll help us out."

"Hmph," Tsukishima curled his lip, glancing subtly at Yamaguchi, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, looking out at the barren land. "No they won't. There are two types of people left in this world now; us, and the ones who want to kill us."

Daichi found nothing to say to the pessimistic first-year.

And so they trudged on, not even knowing what they were walking for anymore.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

And suddenly, they knew.

They knew, and they knew they weren't wrong.

New hope surged within them, and their hearts soared at the sight that was slowly, but surely growing in front of their eyes with every step they took.

"It's a camp," Asahi confirmed what everybody had been telling themselves for the past five minute. "I can see tents, and cars, and people. It's a camp. It's a refugee camp."

"Oh my god," Nishinoya whispered out, eyes wide. "It really is... We're saved."

"There's a Japanese flag on one of those tents. It's a governmental relief effort," Daichi announced, and relieved grins were suddenly on all of their faces.

"We're saved," Hinata laughed almost hysterically, trying to hobble faster as the pace of the group increased minutely. "We're not gonna die. We're saved."

Tsukishima wanted to say that it was too early to tell, but even he didn't have the heart to bring down the uplifting mood that had settled on them all. There was a new life to their faces that had died out when the bomb had exploded first.

Breathless in relief, smiles shining on their tired, sunken, dirty faces, Karasuno took its last steps alone in the wilderness, and approached one of the people -oh god, people, they hadn't seen people in so long- with barely-contained giddiness.

The man, dressed in an army uniform and holding a rifle, saw them coming, and waited for them to approach. And yet, despite his threatening presence, he felt more of a salvation than a danger to the wandering boys who'd been lost for so long.

"Hello," Daichi greeted as soon as they got close enough. "Sorry, but is this a refugee camp?"

"It sure is," the man answered amicably, smiling at them one by one. The boys noted how the man spoke with a slight accent, barely noticeable but evident in the way he mispronounced certain sounds, and realized that he wasn't native Japanese. However, his language was fluent, so they figured he was an exception. "Would you like to be admitted? You look like you've been on the road for so long already, you poor children."

"We can be admitted? Really?" Hinata asked, glancing behind the man. Hundreds of tents had been set up, the camp obviously a nomadic-type settlement, and people were bustling around, looking serene, and -dare they think it?- happy.

The man laughed at the tears that welled up in the teenagers' eyes, tears that they only realized were there when they began rolling down their cheeks.

"Yes, of course! We, at camp Omega-13, are dedicated to rescuing the citizens of Japan and escorting them to Hokkaido, where more organized relief efforts are currently located," the man explained. "If you would like, I can show you to the camp master's office. You may go through all the admittance processes there, and after that, you'll officially be welcome in our camp."

"Yes," Suga felt breathless as he furiously nodded, relief washing over him, and over all his friends like a wave on shore. "Please, please show us there."

"Of course," the man's smile was tight as he moved to indicate with a hand that they should follow him. "Come on in."

Karasuno followed the man into the confines of the camp.

They walked past citizens of the camp, most of whom were speaking in low tones and had vacated to complete a chore or another. Overall, though they were quiet, they seemed to be at peace, which was what mattered the most.

"Here." The soldier finally stopped in front of a tent, looking no different than the others. "Go on in, they'll tell you what to do in there."

"Thank you so much, really," Daichi spoke for all of them in gratitude, to which the man only smiled, again.

"No problem at all." His eyes crinkled as his smile stretched wider than before. "Just make sure that if you see someone you know inside the camp, you immediately tell an authority, okay?"

The request was bizarre, but the kids shrugged, too giddy to care.

With another show of gratitude, they entered the camp master's tent.

The process of admission took a few hours. At first, they were told to hand in all their weapons and food, which they did with no problem. Crowbars and bats and the two switchblades were set on the table without hesitation, followed by Noya's and Tanaka's backpacks. Once that was done, they received identity cards for the campgrounds, and were sent to a truck that carried the water reserves. There, they were allowed a bath -warm water, the first time in weeks, if not months, that they'd had any!-, and were given coupons for receiving water at a later time.

After that, to their immense surprise, and joy, they were allowed to see a doctor, who did a quick check-up to make sure they weren't in any life-threatening danger. Of course, all of them had a bit of lung expansion problems, had lost weight and were malnourished, but the doctor just reassured them, saying that they'd be eating better in the camp and that they'd also get better in no time. He paid special attention to Hinata's ankle, wrapping it up and giving him crutches for it, as well as medication. As well as Suga had done with pilfered anti-inflammatories from the pharmacy, the doctor gave him something stronger, and advised him on physiotherapy exercises for it. He also took a look at Yamaguchi, trying to get him to talk, but he got nothing out of the young man. Later, as he examined Tsukishima, the blond confirmed that his friend had become something of a selective mute due to a traumatic incident.

"You poor, poor children," the doctor had sighed, something inside of Tsukishima flaring up in outrage at the tone that he used. However, the doctor was in the process of giving him his check-up, so he said nothing.

Finally, he moved to the angry red scar on his neck, and clicked his tongue in disapproval. Suddenly self-conscious, Tsukishima turned his head to block the doctor's sight of his injury.

"Who sewed that nasty cut up?" he asked, turned Tsukishima's head back a bit forcefully to look at it again. "The stitches weren't done well, so you'll probably have a lot of scarring around the area for a long time, if not for your whole life."

"My senpai did it," Tsukishima grumbled, glaring at the doctor. "Because we didn't have a doctor around to kindly sew it up like a real professional, so he tried his hand at it, you know, just opened a book and read up on theory and prayed that what he did was going to save my life when nothing else would. Shame he didn't do it like an actual medical professional."

"You don't have to get aggressive with me," the doctor got on the defensive, but then backed down. "It's fine. The surface seems to be irritated, probably due to your long-lasting, precarious hygienic conditions, but I'll give you a cream to minimize the scarring."

"Sure," Tsukishima grumbled, looking away, and hoping the topic of the scar would be dropped. He was still uncomfortable just thinking about it, and wasn't very enthusiastic to know that he'd be wearing a proof of his mistakes for the rest of his life.

Perhaps that was what he deserved, though.

"How'd you get it, anyway?" However, the topic wasn't dropped, and Tsukishima bristled instantly.

"_Kei! Move!"_

"None of your business!" he snapped, physically scooting away from the doctor, who put up a hand in a calming motion, frowning.

"Fine, fine, jeez..." He then said something that Tsukishima didn't quite catch, perhaps in another language, even, but he didn't care. The memories were hitting the front of his skull, giving him a headache, and he was eager to just get out of the tent, and back to his friends. His only constants.

Thankfully, after giving him a tube of cream, the doctor discharged him, as done with his attitude as Tsukishima was done with his, and so the teen was free to return to his friends, waiting for one another outside.

"We're all good?" Daichi asked, gazing over the shining faces looking up to him.

"Yup!" Suga nodded enthusiastically. "And if I'm not mistaken, since it's beginning to get dark out, so it should be dinner time soon. Should we head to the mess tent?"

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," Noya grinned. "Or this guy right here," he laughed, pointing at Asahi.

"Huh!?" the gentle giant exclaimed. "Are you saying I'm bigger than a horse, Noya? That's not nice!"

Laughing, the group of teens walked towards where they were told the mess tent was.

To their immense surprise, supper consisted of vegetable fried rice, and obviously, the meal was prepared with fresh ingredients. Not having tasted anything else than canned goods for so long, the boys may or may not have cried into their food. But nobody around them asked them why they were eating and sniffling loudly at once, and so the topic wasn't addressed.

Honestly, it all felt too good to be true. Perhaps it was. Tsukishima wondered if this was just a dream he'd come up with to cope with the desperation and loneliness he'd felt out in the field. Perhaps they were still all stuck under their makeshift tent, pressed against one another in a futile attempt to ward off the nightmares while one of them stood watch and prayed that nothing would come up.

But then, the food felt heavy and real in his stomach, and the cream felt sticky and cold on his scar, and the only thing that felt out of place was the clenching of his heart, for some reason.

"Let's head to our assigned tent and set up our sleeping bags," Daichi suggested after they had all cleaned their dishes and had handed them in to the cooks.

Too full and too tired and too blissful to argue, they all followed his lead as they tried to find their way around the small, but confusing camp. However, as they were surrounded with strangers, it didn't occur to them to ask for directions, and they wandered around for a while.

Until Tsukishima's eyes caught a flash of black, and he suddenly stopped in the middle of the dirt road to look where his eyes had frozen for a second and a half.

Just long enough to note the person sitting down on a crate next to a tent, cigarette in hand, looking both as if he had not a care in the world, and as if the weight of the entire world was burdening him.

His messy hair, surprisingly, had not changed one bit. And suddenly, there were surprising tears in Tsukishima's eyes as he realized that he was a constant, too.

"Kuroo," he called out weakly, leaving his group to step towards the captain of the Nekoma volleyball team, who didn't hear him at first.

"Tsukishima?" Kageyama called when he realized that the blond wasn't following them anymore, but then his eyes caught a sight of who Tsukishima had approached, and they widened drastically. "... No way..."

In a flurry of movement, all of Karasuno had crowded behind Tsukishima.

And at this point, Tetsurou Kuroo finally noticed them.

"Kuroo, is that you?" Tsukishima asked in a breathless voice, watching the black-haired boy's eyes grow wide, almost as if in horror, before looking away.

"Nah, sorry, got the wrong guy," he mumbled out, taking a drag off his cigarette.

"I wouldn't mistake your annoying face for anyone else's," Tsukishima mumbled, taken aback by the cold reception.

"Well, looks like you did, sorry kid." He still wasn't looking at any of them, weirdly enough. "Look, did you need help finding your way around?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"What do you wanna find?" Kuroo interrupted them, standing up. "You people are new around here, obviously, so lemme tell you. Next time you have a question, ask one of the soldiers walking around."

And almost as if cued, a soldier did approach them from behind Kuroo, seemingly noticing their little gathering. The man put a hand on Kuroo's shoulder, and Karasuno was stunned to see a flicker of panic flash across the other boy's face.

"Did you guys all know each other?" the soldier asked them amicably, his accent even stronger than the other ones they'd seen so far.

"Nah, these guys were just lost," Kuroo immediately replied, loudly enough to sound exasperated over the aura of panic he was giving out. "Asked me where their tent was. Where are you guys staying, again?"

"Uhh..." Daichi took a moment, speechlessly trying to figure out what was going on. "Tent... 7?"

"Right, well, it's all the way over there," the soldier immediately cut in, pushing past Kuroo in an unnecessarily rough movement to stand between Karasuno and the Nekoma captain. "Let me lead you!"

"Um... Well, thing is-" Tsukishima began, confused with the whole exchange, when Kuroo interrupted him from the back.

"Man, I told you, I'm not giving up my cigarette to you," he grunted. "Stop asking me, you got your damn directions, so just follow this guy and he'll show you around."

"Sir, please don't raise your tone," the soldier warned briskly, and all eyes were suddenly drawn to the rifle hanging on a strap, at his waist. There was a cold wind freezing them to the bone, for some reason.

"Yeah, sorry. The blond one was just really insisting," Kuroo shrugged, sitting back down on his crate and taking another puff of his almost-finished cigarette.

"You're not even allowed to smoke in camp, we've established this at least a hundred times before. You should put that out before I confiscate it," the soldier reprimanded, throwing Kuroo a dirty look.

"I'm almost done with it, see?" As if to prove his point, Kuroo took a large puff, and blew it out in the soldier's direction. He then threw the filter on the ground, and stomped on it with his foot. "There. Better?"

"Much." The soldier rolled his eyes, then turned to the other group of boys, who looked stunned at the display. "Right, well, if this is done, I'll lead you all to your tent," the soldier invited the Karasuno boys, his posture slightly threatening. To that, the boys could say nothing, and nodded in unison, silently following the soldier, away from Kuroo.

The Nekoma captain was looking elsewhere as they all left, but when Tsukishima glanced back one last time, their gazes met, and he was shocked to find a scared look plastered for the span of a second on the other boy's face.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The rest of the evening was spent in confusion, and perhaps some apprehension. Since the fear had become just a constant for all of them, they didn't realize that they were afraid until night came, and they were woken by the sound of somebody opening their tent's flap.

None of them reacted, and there was the sound of somebody counting in another language. Once they hit what the boys figured was nine, they left the tent, leaving the boys to wonder what that was about.

Probably a head count, Tsukishima figured, trying to go back to sleep. However, the day's events had been overwhelming, and now his brain was in overdrive, probably much like that of the others. He couldn't find it in him to get some sleep, no matter how exhausted he was.

The tent flap opened again, a few minutes later, but this time, somebody entered their tent, steps making a bit of noise on the tarp covering the ground. At first, they thought it was just another soldier, but then, the person stopped and crouched down.

"Shoyo?"

"Who's there?" Tanaka was the first to react with lightning reflexes, grabbing the flashlight he liked to sleep with, and shining it in the general direction of the voice. All the Karasuno members slowly came out of their lethargy, just in time to direct their attention at the figure kneeling in the middle of their tent.

Their jaws dropped.

"Kenma?" Hinata was the first to exclaim, loudly at that, too, but was immediately hushed by the black-haired boy.

"Keep it down," he urged in a whisper, ears strained. Outside their tent, there was the thud of steps on the ground, and the Nekoma setter swore softly under his breath. "Get in your sleeping bag, Hinata. Quickly."

Thankfully, Hinata's reflexes hadn't dulled, and just as he slid completely into his sleeping bag, Kenma jumped over and slid in as well, sitting up in it. A second later, a soldier entered their tent noisily, glaring at them.

"Lights out was an hour ago," he admonished in his accented Japanese, glaring at Tanaka's flashlight. "What's the commotion?"

"I had a nightmare," Kenma answered in a shaky voice, surprising all of the boys with the realism of his act. "Sorry... I didn't mean to yell."

"And you're trying to wake everyone up?"

"We woke up when he yelled," Kageyama stepped in to the rescue of his fellow setter, trying to keep his face neutral.

"Yeah. We've been together for so long that it's like a reflex now," Noya added, grinning sheepishly.

"You guys are new around here, aren't you?" The soldier looked over their sheepish expressions with his flashlight, and then clicked his tongue. "Fine, I'll let it slip this once. But try to get some sleep."

"Yes sir," they all answered in unison. "Good night!"

Once Tanaka shut off his flashlight, the soldier left. They all waited a minute, and then, Kenma moved so Hinata could come out.

"Wah, it was so hot in there," he complained, but then straightened out his sprained ankle, and grinned. "Nice acting back then."

"It comes with practice." The boy shifted and returned to his previous spot in the middle of their huddled group. "Anyway, I wanted to come here and talk to you all. Kuroo sent me."

"I knew it," Tsukishima hissed. "It was that bastard after all. Why did he pretend not to know us today?"

"The soldiers here don't want people getting friendly," Kenma began, but then interrupted himself with a sigh. "Sorry. I'm going to have to make it fast. The soldiers do the rounds in my tent in about half an hour, so I'm going to try and explain as much as possible before I have to leave."

"Sounds serious," Suga sighed, his eyes downcast. "Just when we thought that things were getting better..."

"Things are better around here, as long as you feign ignorance. Also, only up until a certain point in time."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, frowning.

"We're not in a governmental refugee camp," Kenma looked at them one by one, dead serious. "We're in a death camp."

"WHAT!?" the collective, harsh whisper came from all of them at once, eyes widening to the size of saucers. The air in the tent dropped several degrees, and there was a sudden welling of nausea in Tsukishima's throat. Just when he'd thought he'd found a constant. This world would be going to hell anyway.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daichi asked, blanching. "What the hell...?"

"It means that this is a camp, like many others, which travels the island in search of survivors of the nuclear explosion, and that rounds them up under the pretense of escorting them to Hokkaido. But in reality, they're rounding us up to lead us somewhere else and kill us all," the setter explained, emotionless. As if he'd already gotten used to the news.

"W-Why?" Hinata sniffled out, grip painfully tight on Kageyama's long-sleeved shift. "Why would the government do this?"

"It's not the Japanese government." Kenma shook his head. "They are enemies of Japan, posing as the government. With the government in such disarray and the lack of communications between this island and Hokkaido, they probably don't even know about this initiative. You can tell they're foreigners if you listen to them talk."

"I knew something was off about the whole thing," Tsukishima hissed. "This was too good to be true."

"So we're all gonna die?" Nishinoya asked, strangely calm. As if he'd already given up. The sight of him was so pathetic that the entire team's mood dampened.

"No," Kenma immediately answered, confident, even if he was quiet. "Kuroo and I have an ally who's helping us devise a scheme to bust out. There are a few missing pieces, but... maybe with you guys around, it can finally work. We'll consult him tomorrow."

"Okay," Suga nodded, eyes downcast. "So... why is it such a bad thing to know other people around here?"

"To prevent what we're doing." Kenma's eyes had turned to steel. "An uprising. They want us to stay calm. Nobody knows the true purpose of these camps. I just happened to overhear some soldiers talking one night and since then, it's been an uphill battle to find allies with whom to fight this."

"This is horrible," Asahi whimpered, comical for a man his size, but also heartbreaking. "Why?"

"Dunno." The setter shrugged. "Probably wiping out the last bits of humanity. The Japanese population was already decimated by the bomb, and now they're trying to get rid of the rest, I guess."

"You're so casual about this," Kageyama remarked with some hesitation. "Aren't you afraid?"

"The first few weeks, I was, of course," Kenma shrugged as if there was nothing to it. "Not knowing if my next morning would be my last, not knowing where I was going and how I would die. It was stressful." But then, his eyes went pensively to the tarp ceiling, and to their surprise, he smiled softly. "Now, I don't think about those things so much. Stopped being scary after the first month altogether."

"What?" Hinata looked like he was about to cry. "How long have you been here?"

"Two months and a week," Kenma answered. "But anyway. Back on topic."

The weight of the information being shoved into their heads was astounding, and Tsukishima felt like he would die, just crushed under the burden of this new revelation.

"So when you see Kuroo and I, or if you see anybody else you know, don't come running to us to greet us. Pretend we're strangers," Kenma advised. "They separate groups of people who knew each other in the past. That's how we lost a few other guys from Nekoma, at the beginning."

"They killed them?" Hinata whimpered, now definitely crying in silent, tears rolling down his cheek even if he seemed not to notice them.

"I dunno." And finally, the passive expression on Kenma's face changed, and he bit his lip, closing his eyes in a show of pain that none of the Karasuno boys could claim to have known. "I just know that we were imprudent when a couple of guys from the team came to this camp. We revealed that we knew the other group, and the next day, the other guys weren't in camp anymore. Maybe..." his breath hitched, but he quickly regained control of himself. "Maybe they took them out to shoot them. Or maybe they just transferred them to another camp. And I want to believe that the guys made it out and headed to Hokkaido on their own."

It was probably what let the black-haired setter sleep at night. And that in itself was a heartbreaking thought.

"Anything else we should know?" Daichi asked, breaking the horrified silence smothering them.

"They tolerate people making friends inside the camp. So just stay put tomorrow at breakfast time, and Kuroo and I will come and see you guys somehow," Kenma advised them, and then fell silent. All of them did, and then held their breaths as a light passed by their tent, a soldier's footsteps almost as loud as their heartbeat in their ears. When he was gone, they all released their breaths in relief. "I have to go now if I want to make it back in time for rounds. Do you want me to tell Kuroo anything?"

"Yeah," Tsukishima found himself answering, crossing his arms and glaring at the black-haired boy. "Since when does that annoying guy smoke? Tell him he survived the annihilation of his city, but he's gonna kill himself with cancer instead."

"He already knows," Kenma smiled sadly, getting up and going for the flap. "In fact, he says he smokes because he survived."

It left Karasuno speechless, and unable to reply to Kenma's quick good night wish. As the young setter left their tent, they fell back into silence, looking at each other in desperation, and a certain kind of weariness that they'd never felt before. Weariness stemming from their eternal running, all of their hiding and fighting and fearing for their lives.

Being alive was honestly exhausting, Tsukishima ended up concluding as Daichi solemnly prompted them to get some sleep. Maybe even, it wasn't worth the pain of being alive.

Those thoughts haunted him all the way to the morning light.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

At breakfast, a quick glance around the mess hall proved that the Nekoma players weren't around. Silently, the Karasuno group sat down at a table and ate their rice and eggs, hyperaware of everything around them. Tsukishima was sure that he wasn't the only one who could recite the positions of all the soldiers around the mess tent at that exact moment. He was sure he wasn't the only one taking careful bites, making sure that the taste or consistency of the food was not off. And he was sure he wasn't the only who was afraid, as if every breath could be his last.

"Hey."

Hinata squeaked loudly as a voice crept up behind them, and spun around. All eyes went to the owner of the voice, relief shining in their eyes for a second before they remembered that they were being watched.

Kuroo and Kenma were holding their plates of breakfast, and were standing awkwardly next to their table.

"My friend and I were late for breakfast and now there aren't any more seats around. Mind scooting over for us?" Kuroo asked in that overconfident voice of his.

"No problem," Daichi nodded, and the Karasuno boys scooted closer on the bench, trying not to show how eager they were.

"Thanks," Kuroo nodded briefly at them, and then sat down facing Kenma. Both of them dug into their food, and began making small talk.

All the eyes were on them for a while before remembering that the soldiers were watching them carefully, so Suga made a valiant effort to draw all of Karasuno into a casual conversation of their own. They weren't sure how they were supposed to approach the other two boys, sitting so close, but feeling so far from them. So they left it up to them.

Turns out, the Nekoma players didn't disappoint.

"Shit!" Kuroo suddenly exclaimed, a second before Tsukishima felt something cold on his pants.

"What the hell?" he frowned, glaring at Kuroo, who looked sheepish.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry," the black-haired captain apologized. "I knocked over my water bottle. Did I get any on you?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah, you did," Tsukishima glared at him not even caring about playing along. The rival team's captain had always pissed him off, and now he was making it worse.

"What a shame. I hope you have spare clothes," Kenma jumped into the conversation, chewing a mouthful of rice calmly.

"Ye-"

"No?" Kuroo interrupted loudly, drawing a few stares that turned away as soon as he became uninteresting again. "My, I really am sorry, then. Do you wanna come over to my tent? I've got plenty of spares and I don't mind giving you one for today."

"Uhh," Tsukishima glared at him, but then decided to play along begrudgingly. "Fine. Whatever."

"Cool," Kuroo chuckled. "Oh, I know. You can bring your whole gang, too. I've got a deck of cards, so we can play bullshit or something. That's always more fun with more people, and Kenma's a boring player."

The setter said nothing, but rolled his eyes.

"We'll take you up on that," Daichi nodded good-naturedly, perhaps a bit too much, but it was better than Tsukishima, who was unable to hide the unimpressed expression on his face. "There isn't much to do around here anyway. It's our second day here and we're not sure what to do."

"Well, if you ever get bored, you can ask the camp quartermaster for tasks to do around the camp. The more you work, the more extra food or water coupons you get. It's a pretty sweet deal for when you're bored," Kuroo informed them. "But hey. Sorry, I haven't even introduced myself. My manners, y'know." He saluted them with a flick of his wrist. "I'm Tetsurou Kuroo. And he's my friend, Kozume Kenma. We're both from Tokyo."

"Nice to meet you," Kenma nodded at them impassively, and Karasuno was actually freaked out by how well the two were playing their roles.

"Likewise," Daichi replied as smoothly as he could. "I'm Daichi Sawamura. These guys are my friends. We're all from the Miyagi prefecture."

One by one, the Karasuno guys (re)introduced themselves, some more awkwardly than others, knowing that they were just putting on a show. When Tsukishima finally finished by introducing Yamaguchi and himself (the former's silence momentarily shocking the two Nekoma players), they all stood up and went to the basins to do their dishes.

It was probably planned, but Kuroo filled the air with casual conversation about himself and Kenma, still playing the part of a stranger. In return, as the minutes went by, the Karasuno boys became more and more comfortable with playing dumb, and also threw in stories about their own lives.

When nobody questioned their familiarity with one another, they realized that they'd pulled it off.

The Nekoma players led them away from the mess tent, towards their tent after their dishes were done. The tension between all eleven of them began to rise the more they kept feigning ignorance, and at some point, it was even hard for Kuroo to keep making idle conversation. Needless to say, when the latter stopped in front of a tent just like all the others and indicated them inside, they were all eager to get away from prying eyes and drop the act.

And they did. Once they were inside the empty tent, with the flap closed behind them, they waited for a few seconds to make sure that nobody was coming in behind them.

And then, laughter came from them as the absurdity of their situation sunk in. They laughed for what seemed like forever, until their cheeks hurt and their sides cramped and their breaths heaved, trying to catch up. Kageyama had a fond smile on his face as he glanced at Hinata, who was wiping away tears of joy. Even Tsukishima had to hide his smile behind his hand, whilst Yamaguchi silently chuckled up at him.

"It's so good to see you guys," Kuroo finally laughed out, sounding incredibly relieved. "Man. I don't think I've ever been this happy to see you. Like... training camps don't even compare."

"I think these are some really different circumstances anyway," Daichi replied. "But likewise. I mean, we haven't seen anybody familiar since the Forty Fireworks, and it just had to be you two when we finally did."

"You almost sound disappointed," Kuroo quipped, but then the smile fell off his lips. "So. Kenma tell you everything last night?"

"Nice of you to doubt me, Kuro," Kenma replied to that, digging through his backpack in the corner of the tent to pull out a deck of cards that he opened up and began separating.

"I dunno, you're pretty airheaded," Kuroo shrugged amusedly, but then turned to the Karasuno boys. "Anyway. We're in trouble, as you all know. The good news is that we've been really quiet about our scheming. The other good news are that the mastermind of the plans we're setting up is really good at what he does. The bad news is that we don't have a plan at all, as of yet."

"You're contradicting yourself," Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "Do you have a plan, or not?"

"Well I mean. The plan is to get out of here. We just don't know how yet."

"How detailed."

"Save your sarcasm," Kuroo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing the guy. Actually, if I'm not mistaken, he should be back from the mess tent soon to get some sleep."

"Sleep?" Asahi asked, cocking his head.

"Yeah. He works on his plans at night, when there's less chances of being disturbed, so he has to sleep during the day," Kuroo explained as Kenma handed out each of them a small stack of cards, and then messily arranged a face-down pile in the middle.

"Just hold the cards in your hands," he advised, doing the same.

Confused, the others picked up their cards as told, wondering what they were trying to do.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Kuroo continued in a lower voice. "We'll catch up once we leave this camp safe and sound. Until then, let's play it safe and stay separated. I'll send Kenma at night to update you."

"Isn't it dangerous to go out alone?" Hinata protested, looking over at his friend in worry.

"Not really. I've memorized the round patterns around the camp, so it's pretty easy for me to sneak around at night. Haven't gotten caught at all yet," Kenma shrugged.

"And you won't be," Kuroo insisted, and the tone of his voice was familiar to the Karasuno boys. It was the same tone used by Daichi, when he told them everything would be alright. It warmed them to the bottom of their hearts. "Seriously though, Kozume is like a freakin' ninja. I trust him to deliver the messages, no problem."

The amount of faith they put into one another was heartwarming. And perhaps even, impressive. Daichi knew he'd never let anybody leave his sight without being sure that another person was with him at all times. And here was his rival captain, sending out his best friend alone and trusting him to come back.

Perhaps Kuroo had much to teach Daichi after all.

Suddenly, the tenth flap opened, startling the Karasuno boys. Cold sweat broke out on their necks when they saw a soldier peek in, and all eyes went to Kuroo and Kenma. The two Nekoma players, though, looked absorbed in the cards they held in their hands, and Kuroo smirked as he set down two cards in the pile, face-down.

"Two threes," he announced, and Kenma put his hand on the pile.

"Bullshit," he called, and flipped around the two cards that Kuroo had set. A pair of threes came into sight, and Kenma clicked his tongue, taking the entire pack into his hand.

"Having fun, I see," the soldier smirked. "Just checking up on the new guys, since I didn't know they had friends in this camp."

"We met today, at breakfast," Kuroo explained calmly, impressing the newcomers once again. "I spilt my water on the annoying blond there and that was the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Your turn, uhh..." Kenma nodded at Kageyama, who looked around as if unsure if he was the one being called.

"Kageyama," he re-re-introduced himself, and then set down two cards. "Two jacks."

Catching on quickly, Hinata followed with two cards face down. "Two fives."

"Bullshit," Suga called next to him, and flipped Hinata's cards over. One of them was a five, but the other was a four, and Hinata groaned as he took the pile into his hands.

"Well, have a good time, then," the soldier sighed as he seemed to accept their claims. "And don't forget. It's always best to ask a camp soldier if you have questions. You don't know who you can trust around these parts nowadays."

It was ironic, and all of them knew it. However, Daichi just smiled at the soldier.

"Thanks for the information."

With that, the soldier nodded at them, and took his leave. They listened to him step away and then Kenma put down his cards, not looking bothered at all.

"You guys are so good at this," Tanaka groaned, wiping the nervous sweat off his forehead. "Man, every time they come in here, I feel like they're gonna figure everything out."

"Comes with practice," Kenma replied, and the thought in itself was sad. That they'd had to practice faking so many times before being able to lie so naturally.

"Mustn't have been easy for you guys..." Hinata remarked in a quiet voice, eyes downcast.

"Well, it hasn't been easy for anybody," Kuroo made a weird face, as if Hinata had only been stating the obvious. "But hey, we're still alive, aren't we?"

Tsukishima clicked his tongue softly in disapproval at that thoughts, eyes subtly glancing at Yamaguchi, whose lips were curved into a faint smile. He looked more alive than he had in days, but then again, he looked nothing like he used to, before the incident. They were alive, yes, but at what cost, he liked to ask himself time and time again.

And time and time again, the answer would be the same. That the cost of life was way too high in these conditions, and that one day, Tsukishima was going to give it all up.

Footsteps approached the tent, a vague outline of a shadow appearing on the tarp, and in a jittery nervousness, all the Karasuno players picked up their cards again, trying to look invested in their fictional game. To that, Kuroo laughed, and waved them off.

"It's not a soldier this time," he reassured them, and turned to the shadow. "What is it? Your pack of smokes?"

"You know me too well. Pass them to me?" A voice came from the outside, and as the boys set down their cards on the tarp, a familiar sensation welled up inside of them. That voice was familiar, they were sure of it...

"Come in first. I picked up some strays and I think you'll wanna see them. And they, you," Kuroo smirked, he and Kenma glancing at each other and then scooting back a bit.

"What's that about?" the voice grumbled, a hand grabbing the tarp.

The Karasuno boys held their breaths as the tarp opened up.

"I'm tired and I want a smoke before bed. Too much to ask?" the man grumbled as he opened up the entirety of the tarp entrance, and ducked in. And then, his chocolate brown eyes met the collective gaze that had been set on him, and his jaw dropped, mimicking the expression of the Karasuno boys.

Time froze for a few moments, or for a few eternities.

And then, Hinata broke the ice with a soft sniffle and a teary voice.

"C-Coach Ukai...?"

The brunet-blond at the entrance dropped to his knees at the sound of his name, as speechless as the rest of them.

And then, there were tears on his face, and there were tears on all of their faces.

"You guys..."

And suddenly, his arms were full with wriggling teenagers, all crying with varying intensities, but with the same relief in all of their tears. Keishin's hands hurt from drawing his players, his _boys_ close to him, and he wasn't sure whose head he had set his cheek on, but he was crying, and there was nothing he could do to stop himself, being a responsible adult be damned.

From the corner, Kuroo grinned at Kenma, sharing a teary look with his partner at the heartwarming sight, and the smaller one slipped his hand into the other's, gripping tight.

Even if they hadn't been able to reunite with their friends, their team, their second family so wholly, they were genuinely happy to see that Karasuno had been able to get their closure.

And then, Keishin's arms opened just a little more, and his teary, grateful gaze went to the two Nekoma players, and the boys couldn't help it.

They were just teenagers, after all.

They found themselves joining in, tears of joy running down their faces as well as their hands fisted in someone's shirt. Whoever's it was, Kuroo and Kenma could feel the warm body underneath, their pulse thudding with life, and there was nothing more freeing at that moment than the thought that they were all alive and together.

They were all just kids, after all.

Just kids, lost and terrified and so, so relieved to find solace in some sort of constant.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

The added stake of Karasuno's lives prompted Keishin to work even harder. He didn't go to sleep, but immediately pulled out his notebooks and worksheets and maps out of his sleeping bag, delving right back into work. After lunch, he and Kuroo went out for a smoke together, but then he was back into his plans, now motivated ten times more to work hard, and work fast.

The Karasuno boys were too relieved to find their coach once again to leave the tent, and no matter how suspicious it looked to spend the whole day in the others' tent, they stayed, and there was nothing more reassuring than the sight of their coach, and their friends, all together and alive.

In the afternoon, they all agreed to split up to do some work in order to get extra food to satisfy their rekindled appetites, and so each found themselves at a particular work station, doing some thing or another.

Tsukishima found himself on dish duty in the kitchen, the head chef handing him and the other workers all the big pots and pans before leaving on break. Silently, he delved into his work, trying not to think too much, when a person bumped into him to work on their pot next to him. When he raised his eyes, he found the comforting sight of his coach yawning loudly next to him.

"Hey," Keishin greeted him, smirking. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine," was all that Tsukishima could say, because the actual answer to that question was too convoluted to explain in the time it took to clean one pot.

"I had a question for you, Tsukishima."

"Sure," the blond frowned, looking up at his coach. The older man tied up his brown-blond hair in a bun, like Asahi did often, and then rolled his sleeves up to start his work.

"About Yamaguchi, actually."

"Oh." He should've known.

"I talked to Daichi earlier, trying to catch up on what happened. You guys have been through so much shit, I'm pleasantly surprised you made it through," he chuckled sadly, and then cast his sober gaze down at the pot he was working on. "I heard about Tadashi, too. How is he?"

"How should I know?" Tsukishima grumbled. "He hasn't talked to me since the night after we left the gym. Even then, he won't say much. Selective muteness, I think."

"Does he get nightmares?" the other blond frowned.

"No. He's really quiet. Most of the time, you can even forget he exists. Honestly, he's kinda wimpy, so I figured he'd cry and have lots of nightmares and ask for a lot of comfort, and..." Suddenly, he was blushing as he admitted the next bit. "And honestly, that wouldn't have bothered me. In fact, I'd really, really like him to cry, just once. Because I know he's holding it in, and he's stupid if he thinks that that'll be any help at all on the long run."

"Actually, just looking at him, I feel like the trauma caused him to close in on himself and repress all of his emotions. I don't think it's a matter of willingness anymore. I think... I think he just doesn't feel anything anymore," the older man theorized, and Tsukishima found himself nodding.

"Anyway. I'll confront him when the time is right. But right now, he's just not talking much at all, and we've got bigger problems to worry about." Namely, the danger of death at the hands of some psycho organization that wanted to wipe Japan off the map.

"True," Keishin sighed, and then returned to work. They both worked for a little while before he spoke up again. "And you? How are you holding up?"

Annoyance reared its ugly head in Tsukishima's heart once again, and he bristled.

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" he hissed out, more for himself than for his coach, and then clenched his fist on the dirty sponge in his hand. "I'm fine, so stop looking like I'm gonna break at any moment."

Keishin just looked at him quietly, slightly surprised, but also worried, and then returned to his task.

"It was just a general inquiry. I wasn't worried when I asked that."

The subliminal message was clear to Tsukishima, though, and his face burned in shame as he realized that he'd given himself away, in the sense that if Ukai hadn't been worried before, he definitely was worried now.

But even if he spoke up, how would Tsukishima explain the fact that he saw his dead brother behind his eyelids every time he closed his eyes?

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

That night, Karasuno stayed up pretty late in their tent, waiting for Kenma to come with news. However, the black-haired boy never showed up. Instead, they were forced to fake sleep several times, as there seemed to be a slight bustle outside, causing the guards to double their rounds.

In the morning, the mess tent seemed to be a little less crowded than usual. Kenma and Kuroo avoided them, and Karasuno did the same in return.

After breakfast, since they'd received no indications from the Nekoma duo, they returned to their own tent and played some cards to pass the time. As expected, however, Kuroo and Kenma came over, and there was a spark in their eyes that immediately put the others on edge.

"We've got ourselves a plan," Kuroo announced with a grin, and yet none of them felt very enthusiastic about it.

He went through it real quick, just enough to instill a sense of dread in their stomachs, but it was Keishin, later on, after waking up from a long night of work, who gave them all the details and cues, only solidifying the fear they felt.

It was a very risky plan, and worst of all, it was a plan that encouraged every man to fight for himself, and none other. However, as terrifying as the concept seemed, their coach assured them that all would go well. As much as that was worth anyway.

The plan had risen after Kenma had reported to Keishin that people were being transported from the camp in cars during the night, which was the reason why he didn't visit Karasuno the night before. Too busy spying on the proceedings, he'd taken a mental note of the entire procedure, and had reported it fully to Keishin, who'd diligently come up with a plan, just like the good old days when he'd plan for volleyball matches.

However, there was a lot more at stake here than a silly tournament. Their lives were in danger now.

The plan was simple, but a single mishap would ruin all of their chances. Basically, it entailed that the two groups in each tent pretend to be called up during the night, and join into the group being transported. Kenma had reported that no actual headcount was done at any time, solidifying the terrifying thought that the people being loaded into the cars were being sent off to their deaths.

Once they were in with the group, Kuroo would cause a distraction. At first, such a vague directive put everyone on edge, but Kuroo assured them that he had a plan, or almost. It would depend on the circumstances, but he assured them also that he'd pull off his part of the plan without a hitch. Nobody could argue with that, so they let it slide.

The most terrifying bit was what came after. Essentially, that was when they would split up, and run away amidst the confusion, in different directions to meet up in a preset destination. Since security was lax, according to Kenma, there wouldn't be enough soldiers to pursue them all, especially considering that the other people who would be with them would also panic and attempt to run.

And then, they would just have to run as fast as their legs could possibly carry them (and in Hinata's case, let Kageyama carry him as far away as possible before limping as quickly as possible), and hide to wait until the commotion stopped. And then, they'd be free to regroup.

There were so many things that could go wrong, but they had no choice. They had to try their best, and hope they'd succeed.

And hope that all of them would remain constants in one another's lives after this.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Although the two groups would ultimately meet up at the cars, they both split up at night anyway, only exchanging Kenma into the Karasuno group in order to have an insider within that group as well. At first, there was a small debate as to who would switch with Kenma, but then, most surprisingly, Keishin had asked that Tsukishima come and take Kenma's place in their tent.

And so he ended up with his eyes wide open, sandwiched between Kuroo and Keishin as they waited in bated breath for the movement outside. They were silent and unmoving through the first round, the guard not seeing anything suspicious and moving on quickly from their tent, and then, right after the second round, sounds began to rise from the nearby tents.

"Here we go," Kuroo smirked in the darkess, seeming far too enthusiastic about the whole deal than any sane person should be. But then again, sanity was hard to define these days, so Tsukishima had no right to judge.

The three of them got up and grabbed their bags, packing their sleeping bags as well. Once they were done, they stepped outside the tent, where several other people were finishing up their packing. Now this was the tricky bit; passing off as people who had been chosen to leave.

"Sorry," Keishin whispered to a soldier watching the operations nearby. "Where are we supposed to go?"

"By the north command post. The rest are waiting there for you. You should listen closely when people give instructions, next time," the man sighed, and then looked at them. "I didn't know you two were called up, though." He tilted his head at Kuroo and Keishin, who were strategically positioned to shield Tsukishima a bit from the soldier's sight.

"Yeah, got the news this morning. I wonder where we're going," Kuroo grinned, though the morbid answer was known to them all.

"They'll explain at the north post. Hurry off now. We'll be missing your cigarette butts on the ground, you know," the guard laughed, but let them pass. "Have a safe trip."

"Thanks, man," Kuroo nodded at the guy, and confidently began walking forward.

And if Tsukishima was honest with himself, he was impressed by the captain's acting skills. He'd always been one to scheme, but this was a whole new level. He wasn't sure how to feel about the ease with which the other lied and played the people around him like fiddles.

They walked in silence to the north command post, slipping into another group of a few people to blend in. Their hearts beat fast, but their expressions betrayed nothing. Once at the northern command post, they blended into the small crowd, and immediately located the Karasuno group, getting closer.

"Everything okay?" Kuroo whispered to Kenma whilst the soldiers stood in a circle around them.

"Ace," Kenma replied briefly, and then the two left it at that, and turned their attentions to the man talking, standing in front of the crowd.

"Good news, everybody. If you were given the message to leave tonight, it's because the supply trucks are finally ready to take you to Hokkaido. So we'll do this real quick. The men will separate you into two groups, each one in one truck, and then, you'll be headed to Hokkaido, where you'll finally be safe and sound after such a long time of suffering," he announced cheerfully, and as the crowd whispered amongst themselves with excitement and elation, the group of friends could not help but feel like vomiting at the disgusting lies the man was spewing. The truth hurt worse than anything they could bring themselves to do in this situation.

"Come along," the soldiers began rounding them up, and the group stuck together, especially Kuroo and Kenma, who almost literally stuck themselves to the others in order to stay together. Tsukishima briefly wondered what that attitude was about, when he realized that that was probably how the two of them had been separated from their family and friends when the inhabitants of Tokyo had been herded into these deathcamps posing as refugee camps. His heart hurt at the thought of it, and he made sure to quietly follow the group and make sure the twelve of them were together in the end.

They did end up being loaded in the same truck, and Kuroo immediately rushed to sit at the very inner seat, right next to where the soldiers would sit. Keishin sat in the seat facing him, and Kenma stayed towards the edge of the truck, to be able to see the road go by. Once the two soldiers had also gotten into the truck, and had sat right next to Kuroo and Keishin, it was only a matter of waiting.

Soon, the truck had begun moving, and their hearts leapt in their throats as they realized that the most dangerous leg of their plan had begun. Periodically, everybody would chance a glance at Kuroo, who seemed to be relaxed in his seat with his eyes closed. However, as people who'd seen him truly relax in the past, they could see the crispness in his limbs and the tension in his shoulders, and it was even a bit reassuring to know that the most daring and scheming person in their entire group was nervous about this bit.

However, he stayed silently seated, confusing Karasuno with his actions. The trucks left the fields and got onto the freeway, rolling on the opposite side as there were less cars jammed there, and even as the wind whipped through the open back of the truck, Kuroo did not move. If Tsukishima were to be honest, the lack of action was what made him the most nervous. Had Kuroo run out of ideas? Were they being herded off to their deaths after all? Would they have arrived at their destination even before Kuroo had a chance to act?

At some point, they'd stopped watching Kuroo like a hawk, and it was at that moment that Kenma, probably seeing some sort of clue on the road, sneezed. A few seconds later, Kuroo turned to the soldier next to him.

"Hey, man, I gotta pee," he announced nonchalantly, visibly getting on the soldier's nerves from the get-go.

"You had the chance to go back in camp," the soldier replied in accented Japanese. "Hold on for a few more hours."

"Man, Hokkaido's too far! I can't hold it in that long," Kuroo whined, making a crisped face as he held his groin. The display was amusing, and at that point, he had the entire truck's attention. "Please, come on, I'm gonna explode!" Getting up, he did a little ridiculous-looking dance on his tiptoes, swaying dangerously with the movements of the truck.

"Okay kid, sit down. Maybe we'll take a pit stop soon, and you'll be able to go pee," the other soldier told him gruffly.

"If I sit down, I'll pee my pants," Kuroo told them matter-of-factly, doubling over dramatically.

"Hey kiddo, maybe you should try and sit though," Ukai finally jumped into the conversation, getting up to support Kuroo's swaying body. "The truck's moving pretty fast, you could fall, you know."

"He's right, now come on, both of you, sit down," the soldiers sighed in unison, getting up to escort both of them back to their seats.

There was a flash in Kuroo's eyes, and then suddenly, he was standing upright, hand grippin the back of the soldier's neck. The guy had only a moment to cry out in surprise before Kuroo smashed his face down into his knee. The guy's nose broke with an audible snap, and he was on the floor of the truck writhing in a second.

"What the fuck!?" the other one swore, trying to grab Kuroo, but Keishin was too quick to loop his arms around his shoulders to hold him down. The teenager quickly pulled the first man's rifle over his head, and, holding it like a bat, hit the guy on the floor over the head. The soldier dropped like a sack of potatoes, motionless.

"Kuroo, quickly," the brunet-blond hissed, noting that the soldier was getting rowdy, and Kuroo quickly -too quickly, too coldly- took care of him as well.

Once the two soldiers were on the ground, the truck's passengers all broke out of their daze and began talking all at once.

"What the hell?"

"What are you doing!?"

"Are you guys terrorists!?"

"Calm down, everybody," Ukai tried to get a reign on the situation. "You're all going to be okay. Right now, please bear with us. These trucks have to be stopped. It's a long story, but we're not headed to Hokkaido. This isn't a refugee camp. We're all in grave danger, so please quiet down and cooperate with us!"

The voices quieted down to murmurs, worried and confused, but the guys paid them no more heed. Instead, they looked at Kuroo, who was looking at the rifle curiously.

"So," he addressed his friends. "Any of you know how to handle a gun?"

And instinctively, there was a small movement done by all the Karasuno boys towards Yamaguchi, who was well-aware of the stares even if he didn't see them. However, Tsukishima bristled at the thought of handing his best friend any kind of firearm once again, and subtle shifted to press his thigh against Yamaguchi's.

"Coach Ukai is the oldest, he should technically know a thing or two about shooting," he defended, looking at their volleyball coach.

"Eh... not much, but I've gone hunting once before, so I guess that'll do," the man mumbled, but then bent down to retrieve the second gun from the soldier on the ground.

Karasuno did not mention how terrifying both of them looked with those rifles slung across their chests.

"Alright, let's blow out the tires of the truck in front of us," Kuroo walked up to the end of the truck, Keishin following him. "I'm gonna need a couple of people to hold me while I aim. Ukai, too."

Wordlessly, Karasuno snapped into action, nervousness instilling a slight tremble in their hands as their strongest members latched onto Kuroo and their coach as the two twisted their bodies out of the truck, aiming their rifles. The night was still dark, but the second truck's headlights gave them a clear view on the first truck's back tires.

"Ready?" Kuroo let out a deep breath, clicking his safety off as soon as Ukai did.

"Whenever you are," the coach nodded. "On three?"

The two counted to three, giving everybody a few seconds to plug their fingers into their ears unless their hands were occupied holding the two, and then, gunshots rang out in the night.

The second car began swerving with the first shot, probably out of surprise than anything else, and the two marksmen had a harder time getting the other car's tires. However, after a few seconds of non-stop firing, one of the tires went out audibly, and the other soon followed. The first car's remaining tires screeched as the drivers attempted to get it under control, only to lose it as the freeway made a steep turn.

"Brace yourselves!" Keishin warned them, the two of them being dragged back in just in time to hit the ground and hold on as the car in front of them toppled over, their own truck ramming into its side.

The entire operation had been noisy and terrifying, but then, as all sounds ceased, slowly, the teenagers became aware of their erratic breathing and the cold sweat running down their necks.

"What the fuck," Tsukishima found himself saying, shakily sitting up once their truck had stopped as well. "This is your idea of a distraction!? Crashing both cars!?"

"It worked, didn't it?" Kuroo smirked a bit shakily as well, although he looked mighty proud of himself.

"Can't say I'd have thought of that, but..." Ukai groaned, dropping his rifle to the ground. "Whatever. You've always been a better field tactician than me."

"Okay, let's get out of here," Kenma reminded them in a low voice, and they all nodded as they began exiting the truck, jumping down onto the ground.

The spectacle before them took their breath away, and not in a good way.

The other car had toppled over indeed, its side bashed in from where the second truck had rammed into it. People were crawling out of the back, crying and screaming and bloody all over, holding twisted limbs and limp bodies in their arms. The driver of the first truck was slumped over in his seat, dead, or at least unconscious. The truck itself was destroyed, pieces of metal swimming in a puddle of leaking fuel that gave the entire scene a more nightmarish feel.

"Kuroo," Daichi sucked in a terrified breath, looking at the other captain with wide eyes. "What have you done...?"

They all noted how Kenma and Keishin both looked away from the black-haired teen just as he broke out into a smirk, and a proud one at that.

"I saved our lives," he announced, to their collective horror.

"All those people," Suga began, but stopped when his breath hitched. "W-We have to help them-"

"Nobody move!"

All eyes went to the driver and passenger of the second car, who looked pretty unharmed as they got out of the truck with their guns pointing at the crowd.

"Nobody move a muscle, or we'll shoot all of you! Who's responsible for this!? Speak up, or we'll kill you all!"

The panicked crowd began wriggling around in an attempt to get away, but the other soldiers coming out of the wreckage circled them, pointing their guns at them as well, corralling them in.

"Shit," Tanaka swore, eyes wide as he pressed up against the rest of the group. "What do we do now?"

"Kuro?" Kenma asked softly, glancing up at his best friend questioningly, and perhaps a bit sadly.

The bedheaded boy only thought for a moment before pulling out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, and putting one to his lips.

"At a time like this!?" Tsukishima exclaimed, though his voice did not carry above that of the wounded crying out and the soldiers threatening them. "What is wrong with you!?"

"I'm just enjoying a smoke," the other captain replied as if it was obvious, and then looked over at Ukai. "Got a light?"

"...Yeah," the older man nodded after giving him a weird look, and handed him a half-empty lighter that was in his pocket.

"Don't encourage him!" Noya exclaimed, bewildered by all the happenings, watching as Kuroo lit up his cigarette and took a puff.

"Kenma," he finally called without looking at his smaller friend. "What's our meeting point after we bolt?"

The reminder that their plan was only half-complete suddenly snapped them back into a more sober reality, minds sharpening as they listened for the new instructions that were to be given.

"The highway in the opposite direction has an exit leading into a town about a kilometre further from here. When we split, let's all head there. We'll wait until daybreak, and then move into town with whoever makes it there by then," the setter answered, subtly pointing in the direction of the exit, and the way he phrased that last bit sent shivers travelling down their spines. The Karasuno boys were sure of it now. Failure was not an option.

"Alright, everybody ready?" Kuroo asked, taking a large puff of his smoke. Around them, the soldiers were moving all the survivors with the group of people from the second truck, who were only shaken, at best, and then a few of them were working on pulling out people from the wreckage.

And if the team members were honest, they weren't ready to see what Kuroo had in mind next. But they had no choice, either.

"Good," Kuroo nodded, and then tapped the ashed off his cigarette. "Then duck, and then disperse. Let's meet back at the exit."

"Duck, and disperse...?" Hinata frowned questioningly as he leaned on Kageyama, who looked suspicious, but ready to run as well.

"Yeah. Might wanna hit the ground."

And with one last puff of his cigarette, Kuroo raised his hand high up in the air, and threw the lit cancer stick towards the toppled truck.

All eyes around him widened as the light fell right into the puddle of fuel leaking out of the tank, and cries suddenly burst from the crowd as fire burst from the vehicle. The crowd instinctively began to run away from the fire whilst the soldiers tried to control them, but to no avail.

The Karasuno boys only had a second to recover from their horrified shock before instincts of survival took over, and they all dropped to the ground, arms over their heads and eyes shut tightly.

The truck exploded.

Pieces of metal and other disturbingly soft pieces of debris rained upon the people who were standing close, although the ones who had been too close were already writhing in flames on the ground or were in pieces. Screams of terror permeated the air in the second it took for sound to return after the shocking explosion, and the team shakily stood up, trying to regain a control of their senses.

There was a ringing in all of their ears, vision blurred and swaying, but through it all, they all discerned their coach's voice, yelling above the crowd.

"Run! Run away, all of you! Disperse!"

And they did, despite the shaky legs, despite the tears on their dirt-smudged faces, despite the thumping of their hearts and the bits and pieces of flesh that had rained upon them. Because they'd come too far to be destroyed by something as horrifying as the spectacle before them.

But in their defence, the scene of death and destruction was pretty terrifying.

Even more so when Kuroo's smirking face was the only picture they could see in their minds, through it all.

Tsukishima lost Yamaguchi in the crowd, the shell-shock dulling his senses, even as he got up to bolt. However, he had no time to spare worrying about his friend, or any of his friends, because he knew he had to get out of there. The soldiers were now firing into the crowd, obviously having given up dealing with them civilly, and the blond was suddenly aware of how dangerous his situation was.

Last time he was in the line of fire...

"Duck, Kei_!"_

"Duck, Tsukishima!"

A scream tore out of his throat as someone barrelled into him, the two bodies tumbling to the ground in a heap. When he opened his eyes, he realized he had a faceful of black hair, and quickly stood up with Kuroo by his side.

"Watch out, they're shooting at the people running!" Kuroo warned him as they began running again, past the burning wreckage and the smell of charred flesh, past the bullets whizzing around and whistling in their ears.

"Kuroo...?" the blond squinted through his dusty glasses, his ears still ringing from the blast. "W-What...?"

"Hey! Hey, are you shell-shocked?" Kuroo stopped momentarily to analyze the unfocused look in his eyes, and swore. "Shit. Let's get out of here!"

"Don't need you to protect me..." Tsukishima grumbled, but followed as best as his tired feet could drag him on.

Last time someone protected him, that someone ended up dead. He didn't want that to happen anymore.

And suddenly, his knees buckled, a mixed sensation of physical pain and nausea combining with the realization of what Kuroo had done and what was going on around him, making an explosive mix that made him stumble, and stop to catch his breath. He was aware that he was standing in the crossfire, but maybe, just maybe, if he got lucky, one of those stray bullets would-

"Tsukishima!"

"Akiteru?" the blond glanced up as the figure running towards him, but then blond hair became black, and he realized that Kuroo had come back for him.

"Keep moving, why are you stopping!?" The captain looked more panicked than before, and strangely enough, Kei enjoyed that look on his face. He hated his cocky smirk, especially in a situation as terrifying as this, so seeing fear plastered all over his face was very satisfying.

"Don't help me," Kei found himself saying. "I don't need your help. Who said I want to make it out of here, anyway?"

"I did!" Kuroo answered without an ounce of hesitation, pulling him forward by his wrist. "Come on now! I'll protect you if I have to, so hurry up!"

"No," Tsukishima breathed out, stumbling behind Kuroo, and struggling to get out of his grip. Nothing good ever happened to the people who got involved with him. Nothing good would happen to Kuroo if he bothered with him. He should just run, leave Tsukishima to his own devices, save himself...

"Move faster!" Kuroo prompted him, pushing him in front to force him to run faster, and all Tsukishima could think of was how Kuroo was making a grave mistake by caring.

"No," he repeated again, eyes wide and unfocused. "Leave me. Leave me before you die!"

"I won't die, stupid!" Kuroo teased, and Tsukishima turned around just in time to see his nightmares come to life.

Though gunshots punctuated the night, there was one that seemed to be louder than the rest. And suddenly, like in a game of volleyball where his eyes always followed the ball, Tsukishima could see the bullet, flying, ripping through the air, coming right at him, at them, the whistling getting louder and louder as the bullet came closer-

"_K...ei..."_

Blood splattered on Tsukishima, warm and sticky, and his eyes widened. In front of him, Kuroo let out a choked noise of pain and surprise, eyes just as wide, and stumbled into him, clutching his neck tightly.

The blond didn't need to pry his hand away to see the injury. He knew what it looked like. He knew what it had done. And by the look of all the blood escaping through Kuroo's fingers, he also knew how bad it was.

He knew it.

He was a curse on everybody he ever cared about.

"No!" he cried out, shaking Kuroo, whose breathing was getting erratic. "Get yourself together!"

"I-I'm okay... Just a g-graze," the bedheaded captain stammered, stumbling as he picked up his pace again, he and Tsukishima jogging to get away from the site. Although it really was just a graze, judging by all the blood, the bullet had nicked his carotid artery, pumping blood out of his body with every heavy heartbeat trying to burst out of his chest.

And the entire thing seemed so familiar to Tsukishima, so terrifyingly familiar, that he felt ready to faint just by thinking about it.

They made it out of the crossfire, running down the empty freeway, away from the fire and the screams and the terrifying reminder of how much this war had changed them all.

And suddenly, without warning, Kuroo collapsed.

Breath left Tsukishima's body as the black-haired boy fell to his knees, and then limply flopped to the ground. In a second, without even being able to justify his actions, the blond was at his knees, next to the other teenager, who was bleeding out in front of his eyes.

It reminded him of Akiteru.

"I-I'm gonna die, aren't I?" Kuroo asked, the words slurring as light-headedness took him over. "I-I'm not gonna make it..."

"Stupid! I told you not to help me!" Tsukishima cried out, almost hysteric, because he was a plague, he was a blight, he was a reaper who stole the lives of everyone around him. He brought nothing calamity, and he only killed the ones he cherished. Like he killed Akiteru.

He killed Akiteru.

"Damn it!" the blond hit his fist on the ground, a weak chuckle coming from Kuroo.

"Whatever. Guess we couldn't all make it out of here, huh blondie?" he smirked, as irritating as usual, and Tsukishima was overtaken by anger at that moment.

How dare he be so casual about it all? When Tsukishima had been the one to bring his life to an end?

"_K-Kei... T-The vein... p-pinch-"_

No, no, no, no, no. He wouldn't let anybody die under his watch anymore. Not because of him. He'd caused enough destruction in the lives of others for one lifetime.

"You're not gonna die!" he insisted, and suddenly, before even he knew what he was doing, his hands had pried Kuroo's hand away from his neck, fresh spurts of blood gushing rhythmically from the pumping artery, on his body and on the ground. "Now get up, and stop being stupid! We've got people to meet come morning light, and there is no way either of us is going to go see them alone!"

"W-Wha...?" Kuroo began as Tsukishima opened up the small wound, glancing into it. In the dark, it was hard to see anything, but the streetlamps overhead gave him enough light to be able to see the area of broken skin that was thumping up and down. And that's where he pinched the skin, going as deep as he could to grab as much of the artery as he could. Kuroo let out a pained yelp, moving his head a bit, but Tsukishima pressed him down until he calmed.

"You won't bleed out. I've got you," he reassured him, sweat beading on his forehead at the sight of the small amounts of blood escaping through the tightly pinched skin. Kuroo wouldn't bleed out immediately, but he needed to have the wound closed as quickly as possible, or he wouldn't make it. "Get up. We've gotta go."

"So bossy," Kuroo groaned, and then slowly, shakily, both of them stood up together. The senior of the two learned on the younger as the younger pinched the skin tighter, and together, they began walking towards their destination.

"You're too irritating to die," Tsukishima grunted as soon as Kuroo's steps began to falter, and with a chuckle, the black-haired boy picked up his pace.

"Where'd you even pick this stuff up?" he asked off-handedly, but Tsukishima froze at the mention, his fingers pinching tighter on reflex and drawing a yelp from Kuroo. "Fine, fine, forget I asked."

And Tsukishima wanted to forget. It was all he wanted. He didn't want Akiteru to show up in his dreams anymore, he didn't want to hear his voice in his ears every second of the day, he didn't want his hands to feel gritty no matter how many times he washed them. He wanted to let it all go.

But then as he glanced up at Kuroo curiously, noting the solemn, worried look in his eyes, he realized that perhaps to forget, he had to remember in the first place.

"I killed my brother the same way," he finally admitted.

"Like... picked up a gun and shot him?"

"Shut up," Tsukishima snapped at him, and fell silent. But then, words were tumbling out of his mouth, words he'd never told anybody but Yamaguchi before. "No... Like, he... Akiteru and I, we hid with our parents after the Forty Fireworks. But my mom got sick and my dad stayed with her, so Akiteru and I went on a raid for food one day, and..." His throat tightened at the memory.

They'd been so happy that nothing had happened to them on that raid. They'd come back with some food and pain pills, hoping to help their mother out, but then...

"But then, we got back home, and... And this guy was in the house, holding a gun, and... My mom and dad were..." He stopped there because he could feel his voice wavering, and he didn't want to seem weak.

However, Kuroo said nothing, and was listening attentively, hobbling along as they walked down the road together. So he pressed on, no matter how painful it was for him to remember.

"We took him by surprise. It didn't take much time at all, he just... spun around, and saw us, and aimed his gun at me, and... And Akiteru pushed me over to protect me, and the bullet cut through his throat, and grazed past mine."

He remembered everything now. How Akiteru's wary expression had turned to absolute terror as the gun's safety clicked off, the apology in his eyes as he cried out his little brother's name, tackling him to get him out of the way, and Tsukishima had felt weightless at that moment, falling and falling without ever hitting the ground. He hadn't even heard the bullet. He hadn't even felt the raider run past them, out the door, out the house, out into the world that would never again be the same for any of them.

Only when his back had finally hit the ground, he'd remembered blood splattering all over his face, his neck, his body. His own neck burned, but it was nothing compared to the horror of having Akiteru scrambling to grab his throat, murmuring about pinching the vein to stop the bleeding, and he'd been too shocked to do anything but cry.

Akiteru had spent his final moments comforting his little brother, murmuring his name until the light faded from his eyes. And then, the blood had stopped actively gushing from the wound in his neck, reduced to a passive dribble, and his hand had fallen from Tsukishima's neck, limply on the ground, and the blond had cried out his brother's name for hours and hours, tears streaming down his face, his brother's blood crusting on his skin and clothes and hair, pooling under him... And, too weak and shocked to move, he'd spent four hours stuck under Akiteru's dead body before Yamaguchi came around his house and found him, bathed in blood and bleeding out under his brother's corpse.

"-shima-"

It had been his fault. For not reacting. For not ducking. For not putting pressure on Akiteru's wound. For standing there and letting people die for him. It was his fault.

"Tsukishima-"

He only brought misery to the ones who hung around him. If he died, he'd stop being the cause for such horrible things. He had to die for others to live, and after all he'd done, it felt like such a small price to pay. He didn't deserve a constant in his life, because he was the one who was always pushing his constants away. Tsukishima wanted a constant, but he never realized that he was the one making everything around him into a variable.

"Oi, Kei!"

"Akiteru." The whisper left his lips without his consent, and when Kuroo laughed next to him, dragging him out of his thoughts, he blushed in embarrassment.

"No, I'm not your dead brother," Kuroo smirked, and Tsukishima pinched his throat tighter as a warning. "Hey!" When he finally loosened his grip on his friend, Kuroo huffed, but kept going. "I'm not your dead brother. Your brother is, obviously, dead and gone." Another warning pinch. "Ow! Just... drill that into your head. Your brother is dead, and you don't have to hold onto him any longer."

That didn't make sense to Tsukishima. At all.

"He's in your nightmares and in your head because you're foolishly trying to pretend he's still alive, just so you don't have to feel guilty anymore. But I've got a life hack for you." Surprised, Tsukishima looked up at the captain, hanging onto every word he was saying despite his earlier annoyance. "You're gonna move on, and I'm gonna tell you how. You're not going to feel guilty after this bit, and you're not going to hang onto old nightmares anymore, either."

"Sure, what's your miracle remedy to the fact that I killed him?" Tsukishima spat out bitterly, looking away.

"Well, as much as you need to hear this, you won't want to. But I'll say it anyway. It wasn't your fault." Tsukishima opened his mouth to interrupt, but Kuroo made a warning noise not to say anything. "I know. I know it feels like I'm lying to you and that I'm just saying this to make you feel better. But this isn't what it's about, trust me. There is a very clear distinction between the guilty of this world and the innocent. Trust me, I've seen this line for myself, and I promise, you're on the innocent end."

There was weight to his words, a weight so heavy that Tsukishima refused to delve into the connotations of that sentence at the moment.

"But," Kuroo continued. "You can't change the fact that Akiteru is dead. However, you saved my life, and probably that of your friends, too. Let go of the past and look forward to the future a bit. Your brother's never gonna leave you. What's going to leave you are the nightmares and the voices and the flashbacks. What won't leave you is his memory, his love for you, and his thought as a motivation to keep living in the world that he died to provide for you. And you've held on, come hell or high water, and I know you still will." And then, he was looking straight into Kei's eyes, and Kei felt tiny and insignificant next to him and his powerful words. Nekoma's captain had always been one for inspiring speeches, but never this personal, never this intimate. "Listen to me, Kei. Everything around you is changing. But you can be sure that the fact that you're alive will always be your most precious constant."

Tsukishima was left speechless for the rest of the journey, because it would take him more than one night to process the fact that he'd been looking for a constant in his life, only to realize that his life had been the only constant that had mattered all along.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**There's a Zankyou no Terror reference and a Fall Out Boy lyric in this chapter. I'm on fire. Can you spot them? **

**Kuroo wrote himself. He wasn't supposed to be a psychopath, I promise. But I think I like this route for him. I've got a good backstory idea for him now. I figured that since he was always so scheming in volleyball games, with experience he'd be able to put his tactical mind to the use of his situation and be a good field tactician. In that sense, Keishin designs plans, but he carries out the small details. Kenma is their informant. 3K, unite! :'D Also, I know Kenma calls Kuroo "Kuro", but that's his nickname, so that's not a typo. **

**Finally took a look at Tsukishima's backstory omg. Now you know what the scar is, and why this poor bbie is losing his mind. I think the injuries I gave people this chapter were rather realistic. Akiteru bled out quickly because his wound was deep, probably blasted off a chunk of his vein and artery. However, Tsukishima got lucky, because with the angle, his vein was grazed (if his artery was grazed, it might've been different). Now, Kuroo's artery was nicked, but Tsukishima pinched it, which means that blood circulation is halted. Kuroo is probably feeling really light-headed since only one of his carotid arteries are supplying blood to his brain, but his system is still functioning, although he might be hypovolemic because of the blood loss. **

**I don't really have much to say tbh? If you guys want to see anything in this fic, feel free to tell me in a review or something, and I'll be sure to try and include it. I've already included a couple of fan suggestions and am planning on including a couple more, so if you're down, I'm down :'D**

**Thanks again for sticking with me through all of this endless text, and please review! (:**


	6. Necessity

**Author's Note**

**Shorter chapter this time; but only slightly. Still a 20k! ;u;**

**All the feedback from the last chapter blew me away, thanks once again you guys! When I've got writer's block, I go back to read your comments and they magically give me the strength to keep writing! **

**By the way, I read a really good apocalyptic-ish Karasuno family fanfic (it was like a dream come true when I found it tbh). It's called "Amongst Shadows", by MiyaBlack on AO3, and it's kinda like a Wingfic, but with zombies? Ish? Anyway, I was so happy I found it, so I encourage you all to read it! ;u; **

**Okay, so chapter 6 is the point of view of my favourite baby crow, but unfortunately, I don't like it so much. I hope you'll be able to enjoy it nonetheless. And wow I am so tired I literally just skimmed over it to beta it, so I'll get back on spelling mistakes later this weekend. **

**Otherwise, warnings for this chapter include: gruesome and rather graphic imagery, blood, lots of medical lingo. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>When Noya saw silhouettes in the distance, he expected the worst. Next to him, Yamaguchi and Kenma also looked up from where they sat worrying, all eyes going to the people approaching them through the darkness.<p>

"Let's lay low, just in case," Noya whispered, and all three of them flattened out on the ground, holding their breaths.

The footsteps shuffled and dragged across the asphalt, and as the people got closer, small grunts of pain and exertion also punctuated the atmosphere. This was strange to Nishinoya, who got a bad feeling from the entire situation.

"Who's there...?" he called, rising off the ground, making a movement for Yamaguchi and Kenma to stay down.

"Noya-senpai?" a voice replied from the dark, and Nishinoya's heart skipped a beat as he immediately recognized the tone hidden underneath layers of nitty, gritty exhaustion.

"Tsukishima?" he answered, immediately flipping on a flashlight and shining it forward. As the sight came into view, his breath flew out of his lungs in shock. Behind him, Kenma and Yamaguchi also stood, surprise melting into horror very quickly.

The blond's right arm was covered in blood from the fingertips to the shoulder, some of it also seeping into his shirt and over his collarbone. He himself had bits and pieces of flesh, blood, and dirt stuck all over his skin, clothes, and hair, and his tired eyes were sunken behind his lightly cracked glasses. His legs seemed to be on the verge of giving in, shaking as he struggled to stay upright and to support the weight practically dead on him.

Next to him, Kuroo's entire left side was soaked in blood, some of it splashed onto his jaw and pale, scarily pale face. His eyes were closed, eyelids fluttering softly, and his feet were dragging more than anything else. He was bent slightly at the waist, leaning into Tsukishima heavily with his arm on his shoulder. He looked bad, and where Tsukishima's fingers were clamped on his throat, Nishinoya could see blood seeping out lazily, through the gaps in the blond's tight grip.

Nishinoya opened his mouth to say something, but no sound could come out through the shock.

Of course something would go wrong with the plan. There was no way anything could ever go right with them.

And through the horror of it all, there was only one voice that surfaced.

"Kuro!"

Nishinoya stood horror-struck as a figure leapt past him, towards the newcomers, Kuroo lethargically reacting to his nickname by raising his head just slightly.

"K'nma..." he mumbled out, unable to keep his head up and letting it drop against Tsukishima just as Kenma took his jaw in his hands. Kuroo's skin was cold and pale under the light from Nishinoya's flashlight, glowing a sickly yellow that was probably not too off the mark from his actual colour.

"He's been losing it more and more for the past twenty minutes," Tsukishima grunted, beginning to walk again to go by Yamaguchi's side, in the dry grass. Nishinoya numbly followed the procession and watched as Tsukishima laid Kuroo down, his fingers never letting go of his neck.

"What happened?" Kenma asked softly, his voice quaking with underlying fear. His hand went to Kuroo's forehead, and then his cheek, and then his thumb rubbed a few circles on his pasty skin before it went to settle against his dirty hair.

"Bullet wound to the throat." Tsukishima seemed to be leaving a detail out, as betrayed by the conflict in his downcast eyes, but Kenma did not mind it as it was clear that he told the truth, whatever part of the truth he told. "Yamaguchi, can you do something?"

Behind him, the dark haired teen snapped to attention and fumbled to come closer with his backpack, beginning to take out medical supplies and laying them on the ground. Nishinoya watched them all bustle around busily, Kenma caressing Kuroo's sweaty cheek whilst Yamaguchi scrambled for something useful in his pack and Tsukishima literally held Kuroo's life in his hands.

The second-year felt incredibly useless, left standing there to shine a flashlight at them, and look around and pray for Suga to arrive already. There was nobody in sight yet, over half of their party still missing, lost somewhere in the night, and Nishinoya was suddenly struck by the terrifying thought that perhaps the others did not have somebody to keep them alive as they slowly bled out on the ground.

What if, come morning light, there were only four of them left, plus a body?

He was snapped out of his trance by the sight of Yamaguchi pulling out a few things out of the bag in a shaky but self-assured manner, and watched as the young man gently pushed Kenma aside, rubbing his hands together with hand sanitizer before snapping on a pair of gloves. If Noya remember correctly, compared to Sugawara, Yamaguchi was only a beginner in the medical field, but he'd nonetheless learned a lot from his senpai in the past few months, so that self-confidence could be seen in his movements as he grabbed a few alcohol wipes from his bag and began poking around Kuroo's arm.

Intrigued, just like every other witness to the scene, Nishinoya came closer and knelt, shining his flashlight directly onto Kuroo's arm to help the younger boy see what he was doing.

"What are you doing?" Kenma asked a bit breathlessly, watching cautiously, eyes darting back and forth between Yamaguchi's tight lips and his shaky hands.

Predictably, Yamaguchi did not reply, fully concentrated on his task of cleaning out Kuroo's elbow with more than just a few alcohol swabs.

"He won't reply to you. But he's been practicing a lot and he's brushed up on his medical knowledge since the beginning of the war, so he's going to do his best to save this idiot," Tsukishima translated the silence, and a faint trace of a smile bloomed on Yamaguchi's face as he finished cleaning. Next, he pulled out some tubes, and finally, a few bags of intravenous solution. He put them under Nishinoya's light and hesitated for a while before picking one that only made sense to him, and putting the others back in the bag.

There was an almost reverent silence as the young man, so traumatized and broken by his own struggles, struggled to save someone else's life. He tied a tourniquet around Kuroo's arm, and began prodding at the crook of his elbow. Curious, Nishinoya leaned in, and Yamaguchi gently redirected his flashlight at the spot where he was working, not even looking up at his senpai. His concentration was the like of which they'd never seen on him before, not even during the volleyball games for which he'd practiced so hard, dreaming to be a part of for so long.

For so long, their only dream had been to stand on the volleyball court and win.

Now, in some twisted parody of that, their only desire was to stay alive until morning in triumph.

Kenma seemed to be getting impatient with Yamaguchi's prodding, and even Tsukishima seemed weary and ready to let go of his neck, where small amounts of blood were still escaping his grip. However, before anybody could say anything, Yamaguchi finally stopped and put his finger on one spot, grabbing one last alcohol swab and swabbing that area meticulously.

They all watched in bated breath as the boy carefully opened a few packages, hesitating in some places, backtracking in others, but then there was an uncapped needle in his hand, and he was taking three deep breaths before pushing it into what they all realized was a protruding vein in Kuroo's arm.

After the puncture, Yamaguchi seemed a bit unsure of what to do, but finally decided on grabbing some gauze and putting it on top of the puncture site, and then put a bigger gauze on top of the whole IV catheter. He taped everything down and looked at his work, and then seemed to remember something, as he undid the whole setup.

Kenma's face showed doubt as he watched Yamaguchi tinker with the catheter, but the setter said nothing as the pinch server clicked a part of the catheter out, a needle falling into his hand. Yamaguchi carefully handled it and set it on the ground next to him before closing the gauze again and taping it all back up on Kuroo's arm. The tourniquet was then released, and blood suddenly welled into the small part of the tube that led up to the lock on it.

Yamaguchi let out a relieved sigh, for which he received a few incredulous looks. But still, no one said a thing as he carefully buried the used needle into the ground, and then changed his gloves.

He began anew, opening a tubing packet and carefully opening the IV bag he'd picked. In what the others realized was the proper sterile technique to hook up an IV, he very carefully pushed the tip of the tube into the bag, and unlocked the tubing to start priming it. Some of the fluid ran onto the ground, and Yamaguchi inspected the tube before locking it.

Then, he turned to Kenma, and silently gave him the bag, holding it up. Even without words, Kenma understood what was being asked, and silently nodded, taking the bag and holding it up by his head. In the meantime, Yamaguchi grabbed the port of the catheter he'd inserted, and briefly looked for an alcohol swab in his supplies, which he then used to disinfect the port. With only a moment taken to inspect his tubing, he pushed it into the port and screwed it in. Then, both the locks on the tubing and the catheter were open, and suddenly, there were drops of fluid dripping into the small plastic chamber at the top of the tubing.

Yamaguchi stepped back and discarded his gloves, running a hand through his hair.

"Hey," Nishinoya called, surprising himself with the lack of a quiver in his voice. Yamaguchi did not look up, so Nishinoya went by his side, and set a hand on his shoulder. The younger boy jerked, but did not pull away, and even briefly leaned into his senpai's protective hold. "You did amazing. Thank you."

"You've finally put all that hard-earned knowledge to good use. Good for you," Tsukishima grumbled, rolling his shoulder. "Though do you think you could sew him up, too? My fingers are hurting and he's still bleeding."

To that, Yamaguchi shook his head sadly, but he did snap on a new pair of gloves and gently touched his friend's bloodied finger to indicate him to move. Tsukishima hesitated a moment, glancing at Kuroo's strangely serene expression, before he let go, giving Yamaguchi some space.

Fresh blood spurted out of the thin wound, although the cut seemed to have started coagulating on the distal ends already. Yamaguchi inspected it for a moment, and then put one of his hands against the cut, the other reaching for a few packets of gauze in his bag. Putting them on Kuroo's chest, he pointed at them to Tsukishima, who, even without words, took them one by one and opened them without touching the gauze inside. Yamaguchi took the sterile gauze and pressed every one of them against Kuroo's neck, using tape around the circumference of his neck to secure the wad of gauze, like a choker, as the adhesive slipped off the blood staining the majority of his skin. He then put his hand on top of the wad and made even more pressure, to which Kuroo responded by flinching with a sharp inhale.

"Kuro?" Kenma asked softly, worry obvious in his tone, but there was no more show of consciousness from the captain after that.

"Guess we'll just have to wait, then," Nishinoya sighed, watching as Kuroo's eyes moved under his eyelids, following some fevered hallucination.

He wanted to tell him kouhai to rest and to leave the rest to him, but somehow, seeing the determined look in Tsukki's and Yamaguchi's eyes, he could not get the words out. Like they were the ones in a position of authority around here, rather than him. Like they were stronger, and more effective, and more knowledgeable, and more in control than he was.

He suddenly felt inadequate, and horribly misplaced. Like he was a mistake, and like he was the body that would be discovered come morning light.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Hinata, Kageyama and Tanaka arrived second, Hinata up on his senpai's back whilst Kageyama opened the march, clearing out a path as all three of their dirty, gritty forms cut through the early morning light, advancing towards them. Yamaguchi gave them a quick once-over whilst they fretted over Kuroo, demanding the story from an exhausted Tsukki, who was now holding Kuroo's IV bag to let Kenma's arms rest up. Kenma had fallen asleep next to Kuroo, one hand gently pressed against his shoulder, as if to ground him to the reality where his friend was still alive no matter what he'd gone through. No one had the heart to disturb him, so after the newcomers were checked for injuries -other than their broken minds, but nobody seemed to have time for that nowadays-, Tsukki gave Kuroo's almost-empty bag to Yamaguchi so it could be changed, and then Yamaguchi gave it to Nishinoya.

Nishinoya quietly begged the two of them to go to sleep, to leave Nishinoya with at least a little bit of an illusion of control. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima both protested in their own manner, but in the end, as the early rays of the sun began burning their retinas, they finally gave in and fell asleep next to one another; both of them exhausted from saving lives.

Nishinoya couldn't help but envy their bravery, and find his own lacking in comparison.

Asahi and Daichi arrived next, both exhausted and covered in scrapes, but otherwise unharmed. Their immediate attention went to Kuroo as well, lips thinly pursed in worry as they watched the sun dawn upon Kuroo's pale, sickly face. Daichi, as per his usual attitude, tried to get everything under control, but Nishinoya told him to sit down and clean his scrapes, relishing the sudden surge of relief that dissipated the nausea welling in his throat when his command was taken to heart. Both the third years sat and disinfected their scrapes with alcohol swabs, wincing at the burning, but not complaining.

The morning light fell upon all of them, illuminating their sleeping faces, or otherwise, and Suga and Coach Ukai still had not returned. Just when they needed them the most.

Yamaguchi's intervention had obviously helped, but there was no denying that Kuroo was still losing blood, and that despite the pressure on his wound, it would have to be sewn up. And only Suga could manage that.

Kageyama had finally dozed off, lying flat on his back with an arm slung over his eyes to protect himself from the sun, with Hinata's head pillowed on his concave abdomen, when finally, finally, two more figures emerged from the horizon.

Nishinoya was on his feet in a second, startling Daichi, Asahi and Tanaka out of their tired daze. They only spared him a brief glance as they all stood, wondering how he still had energy to spare, and Nishinoya did not answer their silent question with the truth. It would be pathetic to admit that at this point, he'd do anything to be viewed as useful. Not essential, not important, but useful. As long as he could be of use, he'd be content.

"That's them," he announced, and even before he knew it, Daichi was running, away from them, towards the two figures stumbling down towards them.

Suga looked up from where he walked next to Keishin, and upon seeing Daichi, gave him a brilliant smile, brighter than the sun rising above their heads to announce a new day. And just as the captain reached his side, he collapsed, falling boneless into his arms.

Nishinoya's blood ran cold as the familiar feeling of helplessness overtook his senses again, freezing him in place. As Asahi and Tanaka ran to help Daichi support Suga, he was left behind to hold Kuroo's IV, and be helpless in the face of yet another problem.

Suga hadn't seemed to lose consciousness, but his gait was weak and shuffling as he leaned on Daichi and Asahi to walk towards the small group sprawled out on the ground, mostly asleep. Behind him, Tanaka stayed by Keishin's side, even if the older man assured him in his tired, croaky voice that he was fine, and just utterly exhausted.

They all dropped to the ground for a breather, before Suga's attention -always so caring, always so self-sacrificial, always so noble- turned to Kuroo's form, and the almost-empty IV Nishinoya was holding up at chest level with his aching arms.

"What happened?" he asked, limbs trembling as he tried to get to his knees, at the very least.

"Suga, you're about to drop," Daichi warned him, gently taking him by his arms to steady him, unsure if he wanted to help his friend sit up, or lay back down. "Please take a rest."

"What happened?" the setter repeated, not minding Daichi's plea and instead dragging himself closer to the Nekoma captain's still form. The wad of gauze around his throat had a blooming red spot in the middle, which didn't bode well at all, but at least with Suga here, they'd be able to do something about it.

However, with Suga in this condition, how much good could he do?

"Tsukishima ran with him, Kuroo got shot, bullet grazed his carrot... carid? Anyway. His neck artery," Nishinoya explained tiredly. "Tsukishima got him here by pinching the artery to prevent him from bleeding out, but he's been totally unresponsive so far. Yamaguchi put an IV in him and this is the second bag right here, and his neck's been bandaged, but we needed you to sew it up."

Suga only hesitated for a second, which was longer than usual for him and his selfless spirit.

"Get me my bag."

"Suga," Daichi protested. "You're exhausted. You won't be able to do anything in this state. Please rest first."

"If I don't sew that wound up, he'll die," Suga murmured, sunken eyes glancing up at Daichi with a strange kind of determination. "Yamaguchi raised his survival rate by giving him fluids and preventing him from going into hypovolemic shock, but he's still losing blood. Even if IV fluids keep his blood pressure regular now, soon he won't have enough red blood cells to transport oxygen anymore and he'll slip into a coma and die." His eyes flashed with a barely-concealed warning. "Please. I have to do this."

"Take care of yourself first," Daichi begged, hating how fragile and sickly pale his dear friend looked, how sleep deprived and weak and faint he seemed. "Please, stop pushing yourself for the sake of others!"

"I have to do this," Suga grunted softly, turning around to grab his bag of medical supplies and dragging it to his side despite Daichi's warning grip tightening on his arm.

"Suga-"

"I am taking care of myself by doing this," the setter tried to explain to Daichi, but the dubious look in the captain's eyes proved that he wasn't convinced. Instead, Suga turned his attention to Kuroo, and began unloading his sewing kit from his bag. "I need this, Dai."

And Nishinoya's heart froze in place at those words, because suddenly he knew what Sugawara was saying, suddenly he understood him better than anybody else, and he could empathize with those words.

They both needed this. This feeling of usefulness, of accomplishment.

They both needed to feel alive.

"I'll wake Yamaguchi to help you," the libero volunteered, and Suga briefly nodded, already busy disinfecting his simple cotton thread with alcohol swabs. Daichi voiced a brief protest, but Noya ignored his captain, just this once, in order to be useful.

Yamaguchi rose without a complaint and snapped to action, immediately at Suga's side to assist him. All of the witnesses to the procedure stayed silent throughout, not knowing how to react to a pair of teenagers performing the mock version of a procedure usually carried out by medical professionals with years of training in their pockets, whilst they had spent two months reading nursing textbooks.

But then again, Suga had already performed this procedure once, and it had gone off without a hitch. Or much of a hitch. The living proof seemed to be in a restless sleep right by Yamaguchi's side.

The younger teen seemed to understand the implications, and glanced periodically at Tsukishima to convince himself that he'd be able to pull this off.

They both began working in silence. That's all they ever seemed to do.

On his end, Ukai forced himself to keep looking at these teens, these _children_, still struggling to survive and adapt to a world that had chewed them out and spat them back out mercilessly, and he forced himself to swallow the horror of seeing his precious players, practically his own sons at this point, become different in a way that no child should ever be subjected to. So he watched and hoped that his players knew what they were doing, and hoped that he could do something to save them from the pinch they'd gotten stuck in. That's all he ever seemed to do.

Nishinoya only observed the others bustle busily around him. That's all he ever seemed to do.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Other than the occasional whimper of pain, Kuroo did not wake, even as Suga tied the last knot tight at the edge of the wound, and snapped his bloody gloves off. Next to him, Yamaguchi busied himself with cleaning the bloody wound site with some alcohol swabs, and then applied fresh, sterile gauze to the stitched incision, covering the reddened, swollen skin from view.

"You did great with that IV, Yamaguchi," the setter praised honestly as he began cleaning up his workspace. "All that practice and those bruised arms paid off, huh."

The boy nodded shyly, a small smile ghosting on the edge of his lips.

"What did you infuse at first? Nishinoya says this was the second bag. Was it NS?"

Yamaguchi shook his head, looking at Suga as he snapped his own gloves off.

"D5W and 1/2 NS?"

A nod.

"Good choice, I suppose. And it's NS infusing now?"

Another nod, and then Yamaguchi pulled out a new IV bag out of his backpack, gesturing for Nishinoya to hand the current bag over. The libero did, and Yamaguchi quickly and carefully changed the bag, Suga watching his every move carefully.

"Okay, good," the setter breathed once the new bag was dripping. "Let's reduce the drip rate for now, and see how he's doing. Let's get somewhere safe so I can check his blood pressure."

Yamaguchi obliged, and then stood back, quiet as ever. And there was newfound respect in all of the team members' eyes, for this one traumatized teenager moving past his own limitations to save somebody else's life.

Yamaguchi may as well be the strongest of them all.

Nishinoya's mouth tasted bitter at the thought.

"We should move into town," Ukai suddenly suggested, glancing tiredly at all of his protegees, half of them asleep and the other half on the brink of passing out. "We can secure a house and just sleep all day long. We can't stay out here, anyway."

"Good idea." Ever the leader, Daichi was the first to agree, looking around him. "Now that Kuroo's more or less stable, we can get moving and take cover."

Nodding, all of the people who were awake began nudging the sleeping ones, so that after a few minutes of whining groans and exhausted begging, all eleven of their conscious members were awake and on their feet, more or less ready to go. A lot of them leaned on one another, and all of them were worn down to the bone, but looked ready to move out.

Kuroo was drifting in between unconsciousness and semi-consciousness, so with one arm around Tsukishima and another around Asahi, his feet instinctively began carrying him forward. And so, the small party set out.

They walked off the highway exit ramp, their tired feet dragging them towards the small buildings in the distance. The town itself was further away from the highway, but the road leading towards it had a few residential homes lined up in front of it. Most of them had been destroyed, now only a pile of rubble on the dusty ground, or looked like they were on the verge of falling. And so, despite the weariness in their bones, they walked on.

About twenty minutes later, Ukai pointed them at an upcoming house, just outside the town's outer bounds, that didn't look too eroded, and honestly, the teens did not have the energy to argue. Safe or not, they had to stop, lest their legs gave out underneath them.

With one last, almost superhuman effort, they forced their shaky limbs forward, into the small country house, and into every nook and cranny to make sure the house was safe. And then, when all three floors of the house were confirmed to be safe, they all crowded in the master bedroom and the two side bedrooms, laying out their sleeping bags and fighting to sleep on the dusty, ripped mattresses.

Only Suga, Daichi, Ukai and Nishinoya remained in the master bedroom, helping Kenma set Kuroo up on the bed.

"Kenma, could you help me out by writing down the vitals I get?" Suga asked, already busy pulling out his equipment from his bag, despite how exhausted he felt. Noya had to admire his bravery and persistence, but then, as Daichi turned towards their coach to discuss future plans, he couldn't help but feel isolated again.

Not sure where to go, where to make himself useful, who to run to anymore, he hovered in between the two groups, not sure why he was even there anymore.

"Temperature up at 38.2 degrees Celsius. Breathing 26 times per minute, laboured and shallow. Heart rate is 124 beats per minute at rest, and blood pressure has dropped to 96/72," Suga dictated, Kenma diligently, if not shakily jotting all of that down on a piece of paper that he handed to their unofficial medic. Suga made a few more notes on it and then taped it up on the wall behind the bed with a piece of medical tape.

"So?" Nishinoya asked, mouth dry as he watched Suga pull out a stethoscope and clean it with an alcohol swab. "Is he okay?"

"I can't really tell," Suga admitted, something akin to embarrassment flashing in his dropped gaze, although he had nothing to be ashamed of. "His temperature's a bit high, so I think that means he's fighting an infection... His breathing is fast and laboured, too, and his heart rate is really fast. However, his blood pressure is low, which kinda makes sense, since he lost so much blood... But Yamaguchi gave him a litre of fluid, so I don't understand how this is possible..."

"Is there anything you can do now?" the libero pressed on, eyes flickering to the Nekoma captain's pale face. "Like... to make sure he gets better?"

"I'm going to stay up a while longer and think. I don't have my textbooks with me anymore, but I have a drug guide and a pocket handbook of medical-surgical nursing, so I'm going to see if there's anything in there that can help me out," the silver-haired teen explained, smiling reassuringly at Nishinoya, although he looked like he was the one who needed the most comfort at that moment.

"Absolutely not," Daichi piped in, apparently having finished his discussion with Ukai just in time to hear Suga's report. "Suga, you're exhausted. You're about to fall over. Coach tells me you two ran all night trying to lose some soldiers, and you're probably on an adrenaline crash right now. You need to sleep, and you'll work it out when you wake up."

"When I wake up, Kuroo might be dead," Suga protested, softly but passionately, as if he didn't have the energy to be loud anymore. "Please, Dai, please let me make this last effort. We can't let him die. I need to figure out what's wrong with him, and how to take care of him."

"You're going to kill yourself in the process, Sugawara," Ukai commented, always the voice of reason. "I know your intentions are pure, heck, god knows they've always been, but you can't take care of everybody else if you're not taking care of yourself first."

"I can try," Suga whispered, eyes downcast, and then put his stethoscope in his ears, getting on the bed with Kuroo and pushing his dirty shirt up to listen to his frantic breathing.

"He's not going to listen to you," Nishinoya found himself saying, turning to look at their two leaders with a shake of his head. "He feels like he has a job to do, and you can't take that away from him. With all due respect, you're not in a position of authority on him."

"You don't have to apologize, Noya," Daichi reassured him, though a flash of hurt streaked across his eyes. "We're all equal here and we're going to get through this together. I just... don't want anybody to push themselves to the edge. If the nights start getting too cold, I'm not going to let anybody set themselves on fire to keep the others warm. We're in this together, and we're gonna make it out together."

"That's why you have to let him do this," Nishinoya argued, glancing back at Suga, whose gaunt, pale face was tilted down to concentrate on listening to Kuroo's heart. "Putting us to good use is the best you can do for all of us right now. Letting us ease one another's burden, letting us work together to make it out, letting us be useful... that's all we need." And he spoke from experience, feeling horribly misplaced, even where he stood at the moment.

"Noya..." Daichi began, but seemed to be at a loss of words, for he shut his mouth quickly. "I'm sorry," he simply whispered, and left it at that.

Behind him, Keishin's lips, already in a frown, pursed together, and he set a comforting hand on Daichi's shoulder.

"You're all incredible. Every single one of you. To have lived this long and to have made it this far, and to have the will to keep going. I'm sorry this world has forced you to grow up so much faster than you should've. I'm sorry," he murmured, glancing solemnly at all of them, and then at the door, beyond which all their other friends were probably all asleep. Asleep, but barely so, not dreaming for they were too busy warding off the nightmares.

Nobody replied to Keishin, who was left to look like he was mourning some great tragedy.

"Okay, well... I guess you should all go to sleep for now..." Suga finally told them, yawning at the mention of sleep. This triggered a chain of yawns, at which all of them had to chuckle or crack a smile.

"You have to promise to get some sleep, too, Suga," Daichi sighed, tone fully business-like.

"I promise. Right after I read up on Kuroo's signs and symptoms, and a possible treatment. After I do my part, I'll go to sleep and leave the rest to you, okay?" Suga promised with a kind, stretched smile. A bitter taste suddenly fell on the tip of Noya's tongue, at the thought of being useless once again. Even Suga didn't trust him with tasks right off the bat. He hadn't expected that, in the very least.

"Let's do as he says, then," Keishin sighed, knowing there was no winning against the stubborn setter. "Daichi, let's sleep in the other rooms with the other guys. They've already set out their sleeping bags."

"Right," Daichi nodded, getting ready to leave just as Kenma wordlessly climbed onto the bed, curling up on Kuroo's side, even in the tiny space between the edge and his friend. His eyes flickered softly over every single one of Kuroo's motionless features, as if analyzing him, remembering every single detail like he'd lose him the next time he blinked.

Kuroo would've looked like a porcelain doll, were he not covered in blood, dirt, and gore. Gore from the massacre he triggered himself.

There were too many thoughts circling Noya's brain, most of them unpleasant. The small player's head ached from the weight of all the current happenings, and it was only at that moment that the exhaustion of having escaped from a death camp finally hit him in the face. His knees buckled, and Keishin's hand was on his arm in a second to support him.

"Are you okay?" the coach asked, concern blatant in his tone, but Noya only felt bitter at that, gently pulling his arm out of his coach's grip.

He didn't deserve the concern. Someone as useless and powerless as him did not deserve concern. Not until he made himself useful.

"Fine. Tired," he bit out, throwing Suga one last glance before exiting the master bedroom. Keishin closed the door behind them, and began heading down the short hallway to get to the first bedroom. Asahi was already asleep on a couple of sleeping bags, Hinata and Kageyama both sharing the small double bed, back to back but still looking so intimate in their sleep. Daichi was pulling himself under the covers of his own sleeping bag, and Keishin stopped at the door.

"I'll sleep here, you go with Ryuunosuke and your kouhai. We'll look over these two," the older man smiled fondly, glancing at the setter-spiker duo fast asleep on the mattress.

"Thanks. Good night," Nishinoya wished him tiredly, although it was bright daylight outside (as bright as the red sky could get, anyway). Once Keishin entered their room and closed the door, he made his way to his own room, closing theirs.

Tanaka turned in his sleeping bag to look at him as he came in, closing the blinds over the window and plunging them in darkness. Even then, he could see Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, both curled up on the double bed pushed against the wall, facing each other. Although they were not touching one another, they were only an inch away, just in case something happened, and there was something incredibly heartwarming and simultaneously heartbreaking about their posture.

"Yuu. Come sleep," Tanaka broke him out of his trance, and Nishinoya nodded, heading over to the sleeping bag laid out next to his friend and slipping in. "So. What's up in the master bedroom?"

"Kuroo's not looking so good, but Suga's gonna stay up to try and read up on his condition and figure something out," Noya explained, crossing his arms behind his head and staring at the ceiling. "We'll know tomorrow. Later today. Whatever."

"Man, our senpai is so cool," Tanaka groaned out. "Sacrificing himself like that... He's incredible. I really hope he finds what's wrong with Kuroo."

"He will," Noya replied quietly. Because at least one of them around here was useful for something. And it sure as hell wasn't him.

They fell into silence, which Noya took as a sign that his friend wanted to fall asleep. So he stayed quiet, stewing in his own doubts and self-deprecation as he turned his back to Tanaka's.

But then there were tears burning his bloodshot eyes, and he couldn't understand why. His fists clenched and he gritted his teeth, and he realized that is was because he was scared of being left behind. It was irrational, Daichi and the others had repeated it a million times, they'd promised with their every breath that nobody would be abandoned, and yet Noya felt so useless that he considered letting them leave him behind.

"Ryuu?" he found himself calling in the dark, holding his breath.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing." His voice cracked at the end, and he bit his lip as some tears silently slid down his face, smothering into his dirty hair. "Just... I want to fix this. I promise I will protect you, and our kouhai, and our senpai, and our coach, and our friends. Everybody. I'll protect everybody."

"We're not worried," Tanaka chuckled softly in the dark, not moving, knowing to leave his friend be, and standing close enough to be of help should help be required. "After all, how can we be with Karasuno's Guardian Deity watching our backs?"

Noya let out a watery laugh, not sure how to feel about the statement. His old title applied to this situation seemed so liberating, and yet so condemning at the same time.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Later that morning, towards noontime, Noya found himself waking up, not quite jerking awake, but his heart fluttering uncomfortably nonetheless as he sat up. He'd only gotten a few hours of sleep, and that definitely wasn't enough to rest his sore limbs and exhausted core, but after tossing and turning unsuccessfully for a while after waking, he figured he wasn't getting any more sleep.

Careful not to disturb anybody sleeping in the same room, he tiptoed into the hall and towards the master bedroom. Entering it hesitantly, his eyes immediately fell upon Suga, who was fast asleep, head pillowed on his arms on the bed, legs spread out on the floor. The libero winced, knowing that couldn't be very healthy for his back, and approached, a smile growing on his face at the sound of his senpai's soft snoring.

On the bed, Kenma was still curled up next to Kuroo, the two Nekoma players still and seemingly lifeless in their sleep. It was almost scary, but after observing them both for a few seconds, Nishinoya found the faint rise and fall of their chests and breathed out in relief.

Feeling like he should do something, he went to the closet and opened it, wincing at the squeak the old hinges made, and pulled out a heavy comforter. Carrying it over to Suga, he unfolded it, and then gently draped it on the vice-captain's shoulders.

The silver-haired teen snorted and shifted, dragging the comforter with him as he rearranged himself. They were all light sleepers nowadays, so Noya was surprised he hadn't woken, but that only served to prove how utterly exhausted he was.

Deciding to let him sleep, he backed away and left the master bedroom, closing the door behind him. He was surprised to find Hinata standing in the hall, looking dazed and lost.

"Shouyo?" he asked, approaching carefully, and the small player turned his head to him, yawning.

"Senpai...?"

"What are you doing up?" the libero asked, concerned. The door to Hinata's room was open, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary inside.

"I forgot. I just woke up and thought I had something to do, but..." Hinata stretched, balancing his weight on both legs. "I dunno. Must've been nothing."

"You should get back to sleep, then," Noya suggested, and Hinata complied without complaint, turning back and heading into his room.

"Thanks, senpai," he mumbled, and Nishinoya was confused about the thanks. However, he followed Hinata in and waited for the boy to get comfortable under his blanket, back against Kageyama's, before he tucked him in and briefly ruffled his hair.

"Get some more rest, kouhai. The better your ankle heals, the better it is for you," he smiled softly, to which Hinata replied with a grateful smile of his own.

"Thank you."

Again with the gratitude, and Nishinoya still didn't understand the logic behind it. Shrugging, he checked to make sure that Hinata's eyes were closed before closing the door behind him.

Heading back down the hall, and having nothing to do, he headed to the bathroom, only to find that there was no running water. After some debating, he took a piss into the bathtub drain, and then returned to his room, at a loss of what to do.

Lying back down in his sleeping back, he curled up and closed his eyes, wishing for sleep. Next to him, Tanaka stirred in his sleep, rousing Yamaguchi, who sat up, looked around, and then went back to sleep, and through it all, Nishinoya could not find any peace.

But when the sound of breathing evened out in the room once again, he, too, felt the tug of unconsciousness on his eyelids, and gladly gave in. Anything to escape a world in which he was useless.

When he woke, it was to the sound of bustling in the other room. Eyesight too blurry to get up, he stayed laying down for as long as he could, listening to the others waking. Next to him, Tanaka sat up with a loud yawn and a stretch, and silent as ever, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi also sat up on the edge of the bed, the blond quietly asking questions to his friend.

A moment later, their door opened, and Hinata popped his head in, grinning at everyone.

"Hey, you're all awake already! Come to the master bedroom for lunch and briefing for today," he invited them, leaving their door wide open as he limped back the other way.

Groaning, all four of the room's inhabitants got to their feet, Tanaka opening the march by loudly proclaiming he had to pee. Yamaguchi followed him out silently, immediately heading for the master bedroom, leaving Nishinoya and Tsukishima.

The libero was just about to head out as well when the tall blond got up from bed, stumbling forward. With his ever-sharp reflexes, Noya grabbed his arms to steady him, wincing when crusted blood flaked off his right arm. Tsukishima took a second and then pulled away, huffing.

"You okay?"

"Fine," the first-year bit out, idly scratching some dried blood off of him. They were all filthy and disgusting, but at this point, unhygienic conditions seemed to be less of a bother than they were at the beginning of their adventure.

"Alright," Nishinoya shrugged, letting Tsukishima go first and watching him just in case he stumbled again. The blonde grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and stiffly walked out the door, sunken eyes giving no illusions as to how he felt. Worried, but not any more than usual, Noya followed him into the master bedroom, where their coach was already busy opening cans of beans in tomato sauce for lunchtime.

Once they were all together, each with a can in their hands, their unofficial meeting began.

"So. Is everyone alright?" Daichi inquired first of all, always as diligent with his team's health. A collective nod informed him that nothing was wrong, or at least was urgently wrong, so he nodded and turned to Suga, who had a smile on his cracked lips despite the exhaustion reflected in his face.

"First, I'll give you an update on Kuroo's condition, I guess," he began, briefly glancing at the third-year laying unconscious in the bed, right next to him. Kenma shifted, interested in the report, and can of beans all but forgotten. Next to him, Hinata made a small noise to try and coax him to eat, but the setter just shook his head, and turned his eyes back to Suga.

All breaths were held as Suga sighed.

"He's... not doing so well. I read up on his symptoms, and it makes sense that he's pretty hypovolemic, which means there's not enough blood circulating in his veins. He's breathing quickly and his heart is beating abnormally quick to try and compensate for the fact that there's less blood circulating, but his blood pressure got even lower this morning. 86/54. At this rate, if his heart keeps beating even faster, it won't be able to keep up, and so if his blood pressure doesn't go up, at some point his heart will give up, and he'll go into cardiorespiratory arrest."

A collective breath was sucked in at the ultimatum, all eyes going to the limp figure laid on the bed, chest rising up and down in shallow, frantic breaths.

"So what can we do?" Asahi asked softly, eyes downcast as if he'd already given up.

"Well, if we could just get his blood pressure back up, his body would take care of itself... However, despite having gotten a litre and a half of fluids intravenously since Yamaguchi got to him last night, his blood pressure keeps dropping, so there's something going wrong here. The book is a pocket guide, so it didn't go into much detail about how he's doing it, but point is, the fluid we're giving him isn't staying in his veins. We're going to need some other type of fluid to help him expand his blood volume."

"And you know what that fluid is," Daichi finished for him, a spark of pride lit in his eyes.

"I do."

"And you know where to get it," Tanaka tried as well, sighing in relief when Suga nodded.

"Yes. I'll need our trusty captain's help with this, but... the intravenous solution I want to try giving him is called Ringer's Lactate, and the drug guide says that it's a blood volume expander, so I think it'll work in getting his BP right back up. However, Ringer's Lactate is kind of... expensive. And rare. So it can probably only be found in hospitals, rather than in consult clinics. So..." he turned to Daichi. "Dai, can you find out if there are any hospitals around here? I don't even know where we are right now, so I can't say, but if we want to save Kuroo, he's going to need medical stock from a hospital. With what we have with us right now, he won't make it past dinnertime."

"No." Surprisingly, it was a whole new voice that immediately cut in, tense as if a single wrong breath would break him apart. "No. He'll make it. He'll wait for us to save him. He's going to be okay."

Kenma's eyes were tilted at the ground, but there was a saddening kind of disbelief in his gaze that tugged at all of their heartstrings.

"We'll all do all that we can. Kenma, since you were our informant before, would you mind taking at the maps with me? We can probably figure out where we are and locate nearby hospitals," Daichi suggested, the other team's setter nodding.

"Right. Thank you, you two. On my end, I'm going to need Yamaguchi's help," he looked at the first year, who hardly seemed surprised, if he was startled at all, even. "I hate to admit it, but I don't think I could even stand up right now. I crashed pretty badly after last night, so I won't be able to go. And just in case something happens to Kuroo, I want to stay here and do a continuous assessment on him. Yamaguchi, you're kind of well-oriented in medical things, so I'll give you a list of stuff to bring back, and you can orient the team accompanying you. Sounds okay?"

The teen thought about it for a moment, and then silently nodded.

"I'll get ready to leave with Yamaguchi," Tsukishima immediately announced. "I'll be able to help." He didn't say it out loud, but they all knew he meant to translate for Yamaguchi's silence, and keep an eye on his friend.

"My ankle's still busted," Hinata sighed, clicking his tongue. "So I'm kinda useless on long runs. On our way here, though, we did pass a few houses, so Kageyama and I can go see if they've got anything useful, and any kind of water stocks."

"Don't volunteer me without asking," Kageyama groaned, rubbing his forehead. "I'll only come with you to make sure you don't fall down some stairs or something."

"I'll come with you two. You never know when you might need your trusty senpai's assistance!" Tanaka volunteered, pointing at Asahi, who jerked at the offending finger being shoved into his face. "And he'll come, too, if we do end up finding water stocks!"

"Good, then we're all settled," Keishin sighed, a fond smile crossing his face. "Daichi, let me take a look at those maps with you. When the team goes out, Kenma can accompany them on our behalf."

"Sounds good. Let's get to work, everybody," the captain prompted, clamouring cries of acquiescence ringing out as they all rose to their feet to vacate to their tasks.

Nishinoya stayed on the side, frozen in shame and feeling more ignored and useless than ever.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

He later approached Daichi, just as he and their coach finished mapping out the travel trajectory for Kenma's group. Trying to keep the desperation out of his voice, he all but begged his captain to let him accompany the raiding party, if only to be a fourth man to escort them around. Daichi had hesitated over sending out someone else, but Keishin had stepped in like a saving grace and had backed Noya up.

That's how he ended up gearing for the expedition alongside Kenma, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, throat tight in relief and apprehension. None of them spoke, most of all because they had nothing to say, and so their preparations at the front door were quick and silent. Fifteen minutes after receiving their destination, they were ready to journey towards it.

"Are you okay to make it?" Daichi asked, watching Noya scrutinize the map they'd been given to study the drawn route. "I hope it's not too confusing."

"It's fine," Noya nodded, following the marker trail across the town once more before folding the map and putting it inside his bag. "It's not that far. Bit less than two hours of walking, right?"

"Right," Keishin nodded, looking pensive. "Do you have enough water and some medical supplies just in case?"

"We've been at this for a long time, coach. We've got this," Noya assured him, although his proud smile faded when he say his coach's strangely sad expression turn pained. Insecurity roiled in his gut, but before he could apologize for whatever it was that had disturbed his coach, Daichi cut in.

"I know you'll be fine. In case you find any humans, just avoid them and lay low. We'll expect you back here in six hours, for dinner, that alright?"

"It's fine. We'll be back in less time than that," Noya nodded, looking at his team with confidence. "I... I'll bring them back for sure," he added softly, mostly for himself, but then there was a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up in surprise.

"I know you will," his captain grinned, tired and haggard but genuine, and Noya's heart swelled with emotion. Tears rose in his eyes, and he had to look away before the faith that Daichi was putting in him became too overwhelming.

"Yamaguchi," Suga called from the upper floor, tiredly making his way down the stairs to meet them with a piece of paper. All eyes went to him instead, and Noya was glad for the distraction that allowed him to dry his eyes with a subtle swipe of his fingers. "Here's your list of things to bring back. You okay with all of these?"

The first-year gingerly took the paper and silently skimmed through it, then nodded and folded the paper, putting it in his backpack.

"Great. Just bring back any other medical equipment that might be harder to come by later on, too. The more you can carry, the better it is," he advised, and Yamaguchi nodded again, expression as flat as ever.

"We'll take care of it," Kenma vocalized what Yamaguchi was probably thinking. "Please take care of Kuro until we make it back."

"Leave him to us," Keishin assured him, though he didn't look too convinced. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"Raids are a second nature by now, coach, so don't worry too much about us," Noya answered, shrugging.

"He's right," Daichi backed him up with a nod. "And these guys are good. With Kenma navigating, there's no way they'll get lost, and Tsukishima and Nishinoya are great escorts. Yamaguchi will be just fine gathering all the stuff we need with them around."

"If you say so..." And he left it at that, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"We should go," Tsukishima suggested, getting slightly impatient. "The sooner we're done, the sooner we can save that idiot's life."

"Alright, let's go," Noya acquiesced, opening the door before another insecurity could hold any of them back.

They left with brief goodbyes, and set out onto the asphalt road towards the town.

Making it to town took them half an hour, if their theory matched up to practice. As silent as always, they walked without conversation, only the occasional directive being given by one of them to the others. In any case, Noya was glad for the lack of action. The silence in the environment around them could have been unnerving, but at this point, it was only comforting.

They stopped for a water break in town, and then set back out. Their trek was uneventful, footsteps tapping lightly against the eroded concrete on the ground. The wind blew occasionally through the cracks and holes in the destroyed buildings around them, and the melody of the abandoned town carried them forward, towards the hospital.

'Hospital' was a strong word, in fact, Noya noticed as they finally came close to their destination, as indicated by Kenma. The building they were heading for on the side of the large street looked more like a big clinic than a hospital. About five stories high, Noya estimated, and clicked his tongue. He hoped that the place was stocked like a hospital, even if it didn't look like one.

"Okay, once we get in, let's be really careful," he reminded his team, twirling a crowbar they'd 'borrowed' from their hideout in his hand. "This place has a lot of supplies, so chances are high that survivors would flock here. If you see anybody, hide. If anybody sees you, run. Let's stick together until we reach the right floor."

"Tadashi will tell us which floor we'll take once we get inside," Tsukishima mumbled, hands tight around his own crowbar. "We shouldn't stay in the open longer. Let's go."

"Right," Noya nodded, gulping down nervously, and his heart sank as he found himself falling behind the others' steps. Before he could subtly slip back in front, like a true leader, like a valuable ally would do, they reached the door, and slipped in.

The lobby of the tiny hospital was empty, dust covered front desk glaring them in the face. The air smelled stale and stuffy, making them clear their throats. They cleared the area with a sweeping glance, each on their side, and then Yamaguchi approached the front desk, reading the board nailed behind it detailing the floors.

"Do you know where to go?" Tsukishima asked, already knowing the answer, and expecting no less when Yamaguchi silently broke away, leading them towards the nearest emergency staircase.

They all followed, eyes and ears out for anybody lurking within the dark hospital, and were relieved when no sounds came from above in the looming staircase.

This time, Nishinoya insisted to be up front, with Tsukishima bringing in the back, because he had to make himself useful, even if he had to die first to achieve that.

They walked up six sets of stairs before Yamaguchi stopped him with a gentle tug on his sleeve. Noya turned to his kouhai, eyes questioning in the darkness, and then his gaze went to where Yamaguchi's was, on the door to the third floor.

"In there?" he asked, and with Yamaguchi's silent confirmation, motioned for them to follow him. As they approached the door, a funky smell began pervading the air, and scarily enough, it smelled familiar. Noya was almost afraid to identify the stench.

But in reality, they all knew. They all knew why the staircase smelled more and more putrid as they went up the stories.

Noya pushed the door in, and it budged slightly with a loud creak that rang in his ears.

"Damn it," he swore, pushing harder. In the darkness, he couldn't see the obstruction in front of the door, but when the nauseating smell of rotten flesh assaulted their nostrils, he knew that he didn't need to see it to know it.

The others looked just as disgusted as him, Kenma coughing in his sleeve to clear the putrid odour from where it was burned in his nostrils. For a second, Noya was tempted to shut the door right back and maybe cry, but despite the tears pricking his eyes, he pushed on, knowing that he'd have to guide his friends through the horrors of the present, so that one day, they find it in themselves to look forward to the future.

"Once inside, let's grab masks," Nishinoya suggested, grunting as he put his weight against the door again. It opened a bit more, and he almost backtracked at the horrifying gust of stench that slapped him in the face. "Won't do too much, but at least it might mask the smell a bit."

"I'll get the flashlights out," Tsukishima suggested through his pinched nose, and took a deep breath before he opened his bag and began rifling through it for their flashlights. Each one of them got one, and turned it on, and honestly, they did not know what they were expecting when they instinctively turned the light towards the door.

The rotten, red and black flesh of the corpse in front of the door came into view, its dried up eyes hanging out of their sockets and toothless mouth open in a scream, as if warning them.

They all turned their eyes away for a second, trying to quell the nausea in their upset stomachs, but then, Noya kept pushing through, despite the primal fear that had taken his heart captive. Finally, the corpse was pushed far enough to let them through, and they all slid onto the unit.

The lights were shut off, but from the afternoon light filtering in through the windows at each end of the hallway, they could all make out the bumpy outline of the floor. Bumpy with the mounds of corpses piled up left and right, one more rotten than the other.

Tsukishima let out a whimper that might've been embarrassing, had none of the others restrained themselves only by sheer horror.

The amount of bodies littering the unit floor was staggering. Of all shapes and sizes, there were bodies laying against walls, holding other bodies, stacked on top of one another, fallen awkwardly as if they'd died standing up. Clothed in ripped, dirty, stained civillian clothes, hospital gowns or nursing scrubs, the only thing common to all of the bodies was the advanced state of decay they were in. They must have been lying there, dead, for months.

"This must've been... after the bomb..." Noya reasoned, grabbing a mask out of a dispenser close by, encouraging the others to do the same. "They must've died by the radiation..."

"This is horrifying," Kenma breathed out from behind his mask, eyes shut as if willing the sight away. They all took a deep breath, but the only thing that achieved was tunnelling the stench of putrefaction further down into the creases of their lungs, as if making sure that they'd never forget what death smelled like. "Why did this happen to them? To us?"

And maybe in a few years, when they were all safe and reestablished in society, they'd wake up in the night screaming in terror, the backs of their eyelids burned with the gruesome images of a war that had ended up killing them anyway, and their nostrils bloated with the reminder that they, too, would someday die and decompose.

"I don't know..." Nishinoya answered, turning to gently place a hand on the setter's shoulder. "Let's... let's not think about it and get to work. Let's be careful, even if there might not be any... survivors on the floor."

"Right," Tsukishima and Kenma echoed, then turned to Yamaguchi for further directions.

The younger player looked to Noya for reassurance, and then took a deep breath before taking the lead. Empowered by the statement of trust, Noya fell into step right next to his kouhai, ready to hold his hand should he ever need it.

Yamaguchi led them forward, peering into the rooms, where they found more corpses, either in the beds or at the bedside chairs, or even on the floor. The entire scene was one right out of a horror movie, and for some reason, none of them could shake the eerie feeling that one of the corpses was bound to get up and attack them all of a sudden. The silence was the worst part. Silence suffocated in the heavy air, only punctuated by the squeaking of shoes on a floor covered in bodily fluids, and the squelching of the occasional body being toed out of the way.

Finally, Yamaguchi stopped and entered a small room on their left, a stock room by the looks of it. Only one corpse was by the shelves lining the small room, a putrid body dressed in a flesh-and-blood-stained nursing uniform, having fallen on the ground face first and having dropped its supplies.

Bearing with it, Yamaguchi hesitated a second before walking over it, and standing back a bit to look at the labeled shelves. He removed his list from his bag and began inspecting the rows of equipment, just as the other three looked curiously at all the medical equipment around them. Finally, after some deliberation, Yamaguchi began picking out some equipment off the shelves, slowly at first, and then handfuls at a time.

Kenma was first to volunteer, stepping forward with his bag open so that Yamaguchi could drop all his equipment inside. The younger player practically threw in syringes and needles, alcohol and chlorehexidine swabs, gauze and bandage rolls, and whole boxes of gloves, sterile or otherwise. Kenma's backpack filled quickly with all the basic equipment they needed, and then Yamaguchi motioned Noya forward. The second-year repeated Kenma's earlier motion of presenting his bag, and this time, Yamaguchi began filling it up with some items after carefully checking out the packages.

Several times, he hesitated and bit his lip in thought, replaced items on shelves and grabbed others, compared them to one another, and Noya could not help but be blown away by how dedicated the younger boy had become to his impromptu role as assistant-medic in the months that they'd spent together. Both he and Suga had integrated knowledge that was generally taught over years of schooling in the span of a few months, not fully, but just the basics, which were impressive in themselves as well.

Yamaguchi seemed to be picking out tubes, mostly, and some bags, that he stuffed into Noya's backpack a bit carelessly. He also threw in what seemed to be a few oxygen masks of different kinds, having to stop and rearrange his space a bit at some point to fit in more of them. He seemed to recognize the equipment he needed without trouble, and again, they could not help but admire all of the knowledge the quiet first-year possessed.

Tadashi always seemed to surprise them when they least expected it.

Once he was done filling Noya's backpack, Yamaguchi stepped back, and thought to himself for a second before turning to Tsukishima. Looking him in the eye, he pointed at a box full of what seemed to be pre-packaged sterile kits, and stepped over to make space.

He then went for the exit, Noya diligently following.

"I guess you two should clear out this room, and I'll follow him. Holler when you're done so we can find one another again," Noya suggested. Tsukishima only hesitated one second, eyes falling on Yamaguchi's tense posture, before nodding with gritted teeth.

"Sure. Make it quick."

Nodding back, Noya followed after his kouhai as the latter led them back down the hall towards the nursing station, walking over the corpses blooming on the floor like the dead flowers they'd seen in the endless fields during their travels. They tried to keep their flashlights away from the floor and concentrated on looking forward, and it helped not to look at the mounds of flesh bumping against their ankles, and sometimes even their shins. And obviously, they tried not to think of the fact that they were almost knee-deep in a sea of month-old corpses.

Yamaguchi looked around the nursing station a bit, but his eyes fell on a large door next to the station that indicated that it was for staff members only. Surely enough, when he peeked in, asides from the bodies on the floor, he recognized the characteristics of a typical medication room. Pushing against the door to clear out a body slumped against it, both of them entered, and looked around.

The taller teen immediately spotted a shelf stacked with bags of IV solutions, and rushed towards it, looking over the available solutions. Noya watched him carefully as he took his bag off his back and handed it to him, then pointed at several different solution bags.

"Should I take about... 3 of each?" he asked, not sure how many he could fit in his bag. Yamaguchi thought for a while and then shook his head, approaching the bags.

And to Nishinoya's immense surprise, he spoke as he pointed to the stacks.

"Two. Four. Four. Five. Three."

"Oh." His eyebrows had risen in shock at the sound of his kouhai's scratchy voice, which he hadn't heard in over a week, but he composed himself quickly, setting out to fulfill his task. "Got it."

Nodding, Yamaguchi headed off without another word, as if he hadn't said anything at all in the first place. He instead headed deeper into the med room, out of Nishinoya's sight, hidden by a computer station lined with a bunch of patient charts.

Busy with his task, and faintly amused by the feeling of fluid in the squishy plastic bags, Noya carefully counted the bags and made sure he was taking as many as Yamaguchi ordered. The bags came in different sizes, and Noya had no idea what each one of them was supposed to be. They were all clear fluids, and again, he was impressed by Yamaguchi's ability to distinguish between them all.

Noise came down the hallway, and Noya momentarily exited the med room to wave his light at his two companions, now heading for him.

"You're good on your end?" he asked as the two approached, bags looking full and heavy.

"Yup. We fit as much as we could of everything," Tsukishima reported. "You?"

"Almost done gathering the IV solutions. Yamaguchi's in the back doing something else," Noya answered with a shrug.

And obviously, whatever they were expecting Yamaguchi to do did not involve screaming.

Because as soon as the words left his mouth, a cry came from inside the med room, making their hairs stand on end at how terrified it sounded.

Noya did not even have time to turn around that Tsukishima had already run past him, into the med room.

"Tadashi," he whispered breathlessly, watching as Kenma slipped in as well, and feeling strangely, familiarly left out. But then again, it was his fault for being useless.

Finally snapping to his senses, he jogged into the room, almost jumping over corpses as he went around the computer station to come face to face with Tsukishima steadying a crying Yamaguchi by the upper arms.

"Tadashi," the blond was whispering, not even bothering to hide how desperately worried he was for his friend, but also desperately relieved that he seemed unharmed. "What happened? Come on, talk to me..."

But the small teen seemed inconsolable, sniffles and whimpers escaping him with the fat tears that rolled rhythmically down his cheeks. He couldn't even seem to get the words out.

"Sit him down," Kenma suggested from next to Tsukishima, both of them looking around for an empty seat, preferably away from the corpses dropped left and right. Finally, the blond spotted a chair on the other side of the computer station, and firmly gripping his best friend, led him over with soft, reassuring whispers.

Nishinoya had never seen Tsukishima be so openly concerned, and the feeling of powerlessness became even greater inside of him. He never should have left Yamaguchi alone.

He made a move to go after his kouhais, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He turned to look at Kenma in confusion, but the other just shook his head and pointed at the shelf Yamaguchi was busying himself on before he'd screamed.

"Let them talk. Let's pick up where he left off in the meantime," he suggested, and for a lack of better things to do, Noya nodded and followed him to the counter where Yamaguchi's equipment had been dropped in his surprise.

Gentle whispers reached their ears as they worked to figure out what Yamaguchi would need from the shelf of medication, and slowly, the sniffles died down.

"Tadashi, what happened?" Tsukishima finally asked, and even if he knew that despite not seeing them, their companions could hear them, there was not a single waver in his voice.

There were a few moment of silence, and finally, a croak rose out of the pinch server's throat.

"Corpse," he sobbed out. "At the narcotics cabinet."

There was a small shift as Tsukishima probably turned to look at the corpse in question, and then another as he returned.

"Did it scare you?"

"Looks like you," Tadashi sobbed out, and Noya's heart promptly broke into pieces. An acid aftertaste rose up in his throat and he clenched his fist on a small vial to calm down. "Looks like a blond... tall, slim... glasses..."

"You... you confused it with me," Tsukishima repeated, as if taken aback by that, and Yamaguchi broke out into a fresh wave of sobs.

"I'm sorry," he cried out, probably not caring who heard him at this point. "I'm sorry, Tsukki, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Nothing to apologize about."

"I'm sorry!" A desperate wail that almost made Nishinoya want to go and help out, but Kenma's insistent, if not downcast gaze held him back. "I'm weak and pathetic and useless, and when I finally get to help, I let you down by... by being scared!"

"Shut up," Tsukishima growled, and there was the sound of shifting chairs and clothes. "Shut up. Don't you dare say any of that."

And Tsukishima was so, so right to Noya's ears. Because the only weak, pathetic, and useless person around was himself.

"There's nothing wrong with being scared. Hell, this world is one big nightmare these days, so you'd have to be at some point. Don't apologize for something so normal," Tsukishima continued, the bite gone from his words. Now, they seemed soft, and soothing. And Noya finally saw why Yamaguchi was so attached to the rude, aloof middle blocker.

"For a second, I thought..." Yamaguchi sniffled loudly. "I thought of what it would be like... if that were you. If I were to lose you. And I just- I just remembered when it happened-"

"Stop. You don't have to think of it anymore, it's over-"

"But I do!"

All activity ceased in the room for a second. Even Noya and Kenma held their breaths, the latter probably not understanding much but knowing that the atmosphere was tense.

"I do have to think of it, every single second of the day," Yamaguchi continued, softer, more desperate. "I can't stop thinking of how I fucked up and how I almost got you killed. I can't stop having nightmares of you, beaten, bloody, shot full of holes, mutilated, rotten, broken, dead and buried, or coming back to hate me for failing you. I can't stop seeing your face on every single one of these rotting bodies. I can't stop thinking of what it'll be like the next time I'll fuck up, and you're not there to pick up the pieces. I can't stop thinking of how terrifying it'll be to live without you. And I'm so scared. I'm so, so scared of losing you... Tsukki..." And, even softer, almost a meek whimper of pure and simple terror. "Kei..."

And suddenly, Yamaguchi was cut off by the sound of ruffling fabric, and by the squeaking of chairs, Noya could only hazard a guess that Tsukishima had hugged his best friend.

It suddenly felt like they were intruding on a very intimate moment between two extremely intimate individuals, and more than feeling jealous, Noya felt horrible for assisting to their hearts laid so bare in front of one another.

"Fine then," Tsukki finally mumbled, so soft that Noya almost did not hear him. "If you're so scared, then I guess I'll have to make sure I never leave your side. You haven't spoken in over a week, and the first thing you tell me when you do is that you are afraid. That's kind of pathetic, so I'll just have to make sure you never have to live without me."

And he sounded like he'd just made the suggestion to go take a walk. His words were airy, casual, and Noya wondered how he was so in control of his emotions.

"Tsukki..."

"Stop crying, Tadashi. There's nothing to cry about. I'm right here, I'm alive, and I'm not going to die. Our senpai is right here with us to protect us, too. We are going to go back to the others soon, and you'll save that idiot Kuroo's life. And you'll be okay. You'll always be okay."

Another sniffle, and a weak laugh.

"Man... never thought you'd ever have to see me like this... I really am pathetic."

Noya was about to step in, just to remind him of the contrary, when the sound of two people getting up from their seats shut him up.

"Yeah," Tsukishima whispered, and in his outrage, Noya turned to protest, even if they were hidden from view by the station. However, clothing ruffled gently before he could say anything else, and after a small silence punctuated by the soothing sound of two people breathing in tandem, there was another faint, short noise that Noya could not exactly place before clothing ruffled again. "You kind of are pathetic. But we all are, and we're still alive nonetheless."

"So from here on, we can only get better," Yamaguchi whispered back, as if to complete the sentence, and they all fell into silence.

Noya could only stand there, completely taken aback by the conversation that had just transpired just beyond his sight, until Yamaguchi called out to him.

"Sorry about that, senpai. I'll... I'll be back to help you finish gathering things."

"T-Take your time," the libero stuttered, and, heart beating fast, he turned back to the counter to pretend he was occupied. And when Yamaguchi joined him, inspecting the medications briefly before picking out vials for them to put in their bags, he pretended not to notice his bloodshot eyes, and the small smile tugging at his lips.

When a fair amount of medication of all sorts was stuffed into Yamaguchi's bag, he turned to Tsukishima, who was looking at him work with his usual impassiveness, and smiled softly to him.

"Tsukki... Could you take Kenma back to the stock room and grab two oxygen tanks? I think it'll be good if we bring back oxygen for Kuroo... Just be careful not to drop them or they could explode," he instructed, finally sounding like his normal self, like he'd sounded before he got kidnapped and beaten and almost killed in front of his only remaining family. There was pain in the back of his tone, but that only seemed to make him stronger.

"Sure," the blond nodded, and with one last glance at his best friend, left the room with the ever-subdued Kenma in tow.

"What should I do?" Noya asked as Yamaguchi bent down to the lower cabinets to start pulling out IV tubing.

"Did you get all the IV bags?" the smaller teen asked, reading tubing packages to try and figure out which one he wanted.

"Ah, no... I'll go finish up," he nodded, and headed off, away from view again. But this time, he wasn't so worried. Yamaguchi had made it through the toughest part, and now, there was only recovery in store for him.

"Senpai?" Yamaguchi suddenly called out, feeling unsure.

"Is something wrong?" Noya suddenly perked, worried that something might have happened.

"No, no, just..." Yamaguchi sighed, and Noya deflated, heart beating fast in his ribcage. "I just... wanted to thank you. For everything."

"Everything?" Noya echoed, confused. "I... I haven't done anything."

"Of course you have," Yamaguchi protested softly. "You've been... the best senpai I could ask for. You've looked after me, taken care of me, made sure I was safe, stood up for me... I wanted to thank you for caring..."

"That's... kind of dumb," Noya frowned, immediately regretting his impulsive words. "I-I mean, not you! Not dumb! Sorry..." He groaned in frustration as words escaped him. "What I mean is... You don't need to thank me for something that's not commendable. Caring for you is not a feat I've achieved; it's my duty as your senpai, and a duty that I fulfill with pride."

"Well... thank you anyway. I think..." A pause that left a ball knotted in Noya's throat. "I think it's a lot thanks to you that I've made it so far."

And he really, genuinely had no idea what to say to that.

Because Yuu was useless. He was small and weak, and the only good thing about him were his reflexes. He was loud and too energetic and annoying, dim-witted and impulsive and terrible with words. He was a self-proclaimed senpai and sought attention, and never seemed to do the right thing despite his boasts of greatness.

But slowly, as Yamaguchi came over to see him, a small, genuine smile touching his lips, he realized that he'd been wrong. And that he was not useless.

And that he'd only believed he'd been useless, whilst all along, he'd been more helpful than he ever hoped to be.

He was a pillar of support, a shield against all forms of harm and a morale boost. He was a leader and a charismatic senior, and a caring friend. And though he'd never considered his presence as being an absolute necessity, in the end, it was what had kept so many of them together.

Yamaguchi did not say a single thing about the silent tears that rolled down his senpai's cheeks, nor the wobbling lips, nor the strangled whine that escape his throat before he could catch it. Instead, he grabbed the last of the IV bags they needed and zipped up Noya's bag, giving just enough time for his precious senpai to compose himself before the other two came back in, one oxygen tank slung over each of their shoulders.

"Are we ready to go?" Tsukishima asked, not asking questions about his friends' red eyes and bright gazes.

"Yes," Nishinoya nodded, a confident grin blooming on his face. The expression was so familiar; it felt like he had finally returned home. To the place where he truly was himself. "Let's leave this all behind us."

And perhaps he was talking about the sea of bodies they waded through on their way to the staircase, after all. But deep inside, they all knew he was asking them to move on in a whole other way.

Silently, side by side, the four of them hauled all of their heavy equipment onto their backs, and headed out. With the added weight, it was even harder to step over the bodies, but somehow, they all felt lighter as well. The stench of death had even stopped being so suffocating, at least for the while it took them to get to the staircase.

Yamaguchi took a moment to recount everything in his head and make sure they'd forgotten nothing, and then stepped through the door that Noya held for him. And the latter's gaze was bright as he held the door for Tsukishima, whose softer-than-usual gaze was laid on the back of Yamaguchi's head, and Kenma, who looked more relieved than ever before.

There was hope. Even if there was none to be found, they'd made their own hope from scratch.

The flashlights were returned to whatever small spot could be found in the overstuffed bags once they reached the lobby of the small town hospital, and suddenly, as the door to the outside opened with a small push, the moist, slightly acrid air slapped them in the face and cleared out the rot from their lungs.

For now.

The bleeding sky accompanied them as they journeyed back towards their home.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

This brave new world seemed to lack the concept of giving for the sake of giving. This was a fact that they'd all noted time and time again, but that would never cease to shock them.

Things were always too good to be true.

Half an hour into their trek back, just when they'd deemed it safe to drop their defenses a little bit, they were finally met with an obstacle on what had been a smooth -_too smooth_- route so far.

And Nishinoya knew, as soon as he saw a figure moving in the distance, that this was what he was meant to do.

Halting his group, he stepped in front of them, crowbar at the ready, and tried to look as intimidating as his small stature would permit him. His companions followed his orders silently, if not out of fear than anything else.

"Who are you?" Noya called out to the person standing on the sidewalk at the corner of the street. The person looked at them briefly, gaze eerily fixated, and then slowly, silently began approaching.

The four of them took an instinctive step back.

"Tsukishima, survey the surroundings for more of them. I'll get the front," Noya commanded, throat tight and dry from the stress that was pumping his blood harshly through his veins. "You! Stop and identify yourself!"

However, the person did not stop. Instead, silent as ever, they advanced until they were close enough for Noya to distinguish them. Or her, more specifically.

The woman walking towards them was young, probably only a few years older than them, even, had the dirt smudged on her face and clothes not made her look older. She had black hair tied in a bun and dirty glasses, and a kind look in her eyes. The sway of her thin hips grabbed Noya's attention for just one second, and that second was all it took for him to suddenly find his vision blurry.

Shimizu...

"Who are you?" he asked again, throat aching from the withheld tears. The girl looked exactly like their precious manager, their precious, golden, beautiful manager whom Noya had adored so much... Oh god, he missed her...

The girl's innocent smile was a cruel reminder that despite having made it so far, they'd also lost so much.

"My name is Yukiko," she introduced herself in a soft, sweet voice, devoid of all ill intent. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to."

"Yukiko," Noya gritted his teeth, looking up at her with mixed feelings. She looked harmless enough, but at this point, he knew better than to underestimate the people he met. "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Well, I was just out to try and find some more blankets from these houses, to take back home. My little sister's caught a cold, so I'm trying to nurse her back to health like a good older sibling," she replied airily, startling the boys.

"There are more of you?" the libero asked, careful to mask the suspicion in his tone.

"Oh yeah, lots of us," Yukiko nodded enthusiastically. "In the downtown area of this town, actually. People have started rebuilding a society and trying to find some stability, so it's actually kinda nice down there. There are a lot of families, old or reconstructed, or just people who've decided to stick together... We're about a hundred in total, maybe? Maybe more? It's kind of hard to tell. In the beginning, it was basically just a bunch of people fleeing from Tokyo that made pit-stops in several towns on their way up to Hokkaido, and who gather survivors in every town to try and make a large party of survivors. They settle in towns a few weeks at a time, and then move on, taking everybody with them."

"What?" Noya's eyebrows shot to his forehead in surprise. "You're... rebuilding society?"

"Yeah... I mean, it's not perfect or anything," the girl laughed sheepishly. "But there's a small militia, and people have small businesses where they trade goods for other goods, and all in all, it's not as bad as things could be. After being on the run for so long, it's nice to stay here and finally feel safe."

The four boys glanced at each other in a flash, the word 'safe' settling like poison on their tongues when they silently echoed it, and they turned to the girl.

"Right, then. We'll be going."

"Already?" the young girl pouted, clutching her backpack tightly. "Where are you headed?"

"Back home, to a friend in need. We're kind of in a hurry," Tsukishima finally interjected, reminding Noya that they were hard-pressed for time with Kuroo in such a precarious condition.

"That's true. We need to get back as soon as possible," he confirmed.

"Oh, is your friend sick, too?"

"Kinda. We have to go," Kenma pressed as well, noting the escalation of tension in the atmosphere.

"Then wait!" Finally, the girl swung her backpack to the front, and the boys instinctively dropped into a defensive position, taking a step back from her. Eyes following her every movement, they weren't even sure how they were supposed to react when she pulled out a couple of cans of canned goods, handing them out to them. "Here! For your friend. I hope he gets better."

"Why are you giving these to us?" Noya asked suspiciously, not letting his guard down. "What's in it for you?"

"Nothing, really," the girl quieted a bit, looking sheepish. "It's just... I wanna return favours. I have plenty more of them at home, so I don't mind. The people from Tokyo who settled in this town were very kind to me and my sister, and the other survivors, so I'm just trying to pass along the kindness. Please accept this gift."

The four of them looked at one another suspiciously, debating in silence, before Noya nodded. He'd take them for now, but he'd have to ask Daichi's opinion before they consumed them.

"Thank you," he bit out, cautiously taking the cans from her hands and drawing right back, handing them to Yamaguchi so that the boy could put them away somewhere in his bag. "We really have to go, though."

"No problem. Take care!" the girl wished them, even stepping to the side to clear them a way to pass. And as they walked by, she waved to them, the sudden movement causing them all to flinch back. "And if you ever need anything, or a safe place to rest, or even a nice place to settle and rebuild, please come and see us. Talk to anybody in the downtown area and they'll help. There's safety in numbers, after all!"

"Sure," Noya mumbled, not knowing what to make of the offer, and his steps accelerated until all four of them had turned a corner and had vanished from the girl's sight.

"That was odd," Tsukishima commented as their steps regained their previous pace, and their hearts slowly began to return to a normal rate.

"You said it," Noya sighed, but dropped the subject there. Nobody seemed to object, and Kenma carefully began navigating them through the town's winding streets.

To their eternal relief, they encountered no more problems until they exited the town's boundaries, on the final stretch of road that would lead them right back to the house, right back to their family, and to Kuroo, whose only hope was half an hour's walk away.

Once the coast was clear and they were safely engaged on the home stretch, Tsukishima fell back with Noya subtly, letting Yamaguchi and Kenma get some advance on them. Noya noted the subtle indication and slowed down as well, waiting for Tsukishima to make the first move.

It took him a few minutes, but he finally did.

"Senpai."

Noya looked up, but seeing as Tsukishima was pointedly looking forward, he also turned his gaze away from the taller boy.

"I... I wanted to thank you."

"You, too?" Nishinoya asked, genuinely surprised before he realized he was being rude. "I mean... that's not a bad thing, don't feel bad or anything, sorry! Just... why?"

"It's... it's complicated," Tsukishima grunted, as anally retentive as always. "Just... thanks for looking after all of us like this."

"Sure," Noya answered with some hesitation, but fell into silence. Though it sounded like they'd dropped the subject there, it didn't feel like they had.

So they walked, ruined soles of their dirty shoes scratching on the asphalt, the gentle breeze letting Tsukishima gather his thoughts.

"I think about death a lot," the blond finally admitted in a quiet whisper, as if afraid.

"Is it because of all those bodies?" Noya asked softly, eyes sad. He wished his kouhai didn't have to suffer like this, but there was nothing he could do to steal their pain.

"No, like..." Tsukishima's voice caught in his throat, and Noya was surprised. Even for the blond, this was a whole new level of inability to communicate. "I meant like... my death, okay?"

"You're afraid of dying?"

"No. That's the thing." Tsukishima hesitated again, definitely looking away now. "I think about dying a lot. Often."

"What do you-" But then it clicked. The sad eyes. The nightmares and sleepless nights. The innocence tainted in blood. The broken arrogance. "Oh." The recklessness, the carelessness, the obvious disregard for personal safety. "Oh, you mean like..."

"Yeah," Tsukishima bit his lip, looking guilty. "Yeah, like suicide."

They fell into silence in words, but into a typhoon in thoughts. And Noya realized that he was nervous, but not scared. He wasn't scared.

"Thank you for confiding in me," he finally began, not sure how to go about it. Tsukishima seemed to be hanging onto every word of his, so he couldn't mess up now. "It's... probably not easy to admit."

Tsukishima didn't reply.

"Have you..." He tried to word his next question carefully. "Have you tried...?"

"Not yet. Not consciously, at least," the blond answered with a small sigh. "It's more like... thinking like I wouldn't mind being shot. Or I wouldn't mind leaving the group if we began running out of supplies. When I get hurt, I don't feel the urgency to get treated, and things like that."

"And..." Another pregnant pause, and the next question was whispered out, almost. "Do you want to die...?"

"Yes."

Noya did not know how to respond. Thankfully, Tsukishima didn't seem to be done.

"Well... I used to be sure of it. Now, I'm... I'm hesitating a little."

"That's good." The second-year's words were strangely calm. "I mean... that you're putting it into doubt. What made you change your mind?"

"Seeing all of you fight so hard to hold on," Tsukishima grumbled, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "And... promising Tadashi I wouldn't leave him alone. And... And you."

"Me!?" Nishinoya exclaimed, taken aback, and his loud exclamation drew momentary attention from their two other companions, walking a bit further from them. However, they soon turned back, as if knowing that the pair needed some time to talk.

"You've been an inspiration, I guess. Ish." The first-year seemed to be loathe to admit it. "You've got our backs, even now. So... So I guess it wouldn't make any sense to try and kill myself if I've got someone always looking out for me."

"Damn right," Noya exclaimed again, less loudly. "Damn right I'll protect you!" There was a sudden flare of pride and protectiveness in his chest, a feeling that made him burn up, as if he was getting ready to play an important volleyball game. There was no feeling like that of being needed. He really hadn't been useless all along. He was Karasuno's shield, and if that didn't make him feel proud as hell, he didn't know what else would. "As long as I'm here, nobody's ever going to die!"

"You're still as noisy and annoying as ever," Tsukishima grumbled, but it was half-hearted, as proven by the small smile that touched his lips right after. "But... thank you. Really. You saved my life, senpai."

"And I always will," Noya topped off with a huff. "You can count on your trusty senpai. And on the others. Everybody in our group is your ally, Tsukishima. If you need anything, anything at all... You know we're all there for you, right?"

"Yeah," the blond nodded. "I'll be fine."

"If you say so." But Noya knew better than to let it go. "Have you told anybody else?"

"No."

"Not even Yamaguchi?"

"Especially not him."

"When the whole Kuroo business is cleared up, maybe you should talk to him. Or Suga. Suga's a great listener," Noya suggested.

"But... I just said I was okay," Tsukishima frowned, as if not understanding. "I don't need to talk."

"You're talking to me right now," Nishinoya pointed out. "Don't you feel better?"

"... I... I guess."

"Then talk to someone else, too. The more you talk, the easier it'll be to let these feelings go." He would know, because talking to his kouhai had made him realize how much of a necessity he really was. And he never would have made it without them there to remind him that he was needed.

"I'll think about it," Tsukishima grumbled, an undertone of finality to his words. But Nishinoya didn't mind.

His mind was at ease.

"Good. Now let's catch up to the others. We're almost there," he prompted with a genuine grin up at his kouhai. The latter looked down at him, and a small twitch of his lips reciprocated the sentiment.

"Yeah. Let's go save lives."

They jogged towards the horizon.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Their return was heralded across the entire house by the sound of Hinata's excited yelling, and Noya was sure that by the time they made it upstairs, Suga already had begun setting up his workspace. However, as all four of them entered the master bedroom, they found Suga on the floor, a thin blanket thrown over his shoulders as he slept soundly, despite the frown marring his features. On the bed, Kuroo looked even paler than before, the rise and fall of his chest rapid, but almost indiscernible.

"Suga?" Nishinoya asked as they stepped in, dropping their heavy equipment next to the wall. Yamaguchi silently began opening the bags up, pulling out several pieces of their equipment and setting them aside, eyes occasionally glancing at his exhausted-looking senpai.

"Suga-senpai," Tsukishima called as well, stepping closer to take a better look at both Kuroo and the setter on the floor. "Wake up, we're back."

"Five more minutes..." the teen mumbled in his sleep, curling up tighter into a ball.

"Ah," Daichi called, popping his head in through the door. "He fell asleep about an hour ago, just go ahead and shake him awake."

"Are you sure?" Noya frowned, not wanting to disturb the hardworking, exhausted setter.

"Yeah. He'd never forgive himself if he didn't do something for Kuroo at this point, so just wake him up," Daichi smiled softly, albeit a bit sadly.

"Right," Noya nodded, and knelt, gently shaking Suga. "Suga, wake up. We're here."

"Dai...?" the silver-haired setter mumbled in his sleep, and only opened his eyes after the third shake. "Oh... Noya." Slowly pushing himself into a sitting position, he stretched and yawned, rubbing his eyes. "You're back..."

It took a couple of seconds for the implications to sink in, and suddenly, Suga was wrestling out of his blankets to his feet.

"You're all back safely! And you've brought the equipment!" he exclaimed, standing up too quickly and ending up swaying dangerously.

"Careful!" Noya warned, standing up to steady Suga, whose knees buckled slightly before he stood straight and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths.

"Sorry... Stood up too quickly. I'm fine," he assured, smiling softly at Noya, and then putting his relieved gaze on all the people in the room.

"Suga, are you sure you're gonna be okay to do this?" Daichi asked from the doorway, looking at his vice-captain worriedly. "You can barely even stand..."

"I'll be fine. I read a lot about how to take care of hypovolemic patients, I'm sure we'll be fine. And Yamaguchi can help me, too," Suga smiled at the quiet boy, who was impassively busying himself with taking Kuroo's blood pressure with the manual cuff and stethoscope.

"Kuroo's survived this far, it's okay if you sleep a few more hours to be able to do things all right," Daichi tried again, but Suga shook his head and grinned, as if the grin would suddenly cover up the horrible dark circles he had around his eyes.

"I want to do this... I'm okay."

"Don't push yourself," the captain warned. "We don't need another casualty..."

"Don't worry."

But it wasn't Suga that had spoken up. And everybody in the room froze as Yamaguchi got up from Kuroo's side to go shuffle around with the equipment, as if he hadn't just said his first words in weeks to Daichi and Suga.

"If worse comes to worst, I'll take over the lead. I know I don't look like it, but I read a lot about how to take care of hypovolemia, since we found Tsukki back when the Forty Fireworks happened. I've read up a lot, too, in the free time we had in the warehouse, so I'm sure I can help somehow, if Suga doesn't feel well," he suggested very casually, finally standing up and taking one of the oxygen tanks with both hands, dragging it carefully across the floor to lay it flat on the ground by Kuroo's bedside.

"Uhh-" Daichi blinked, shocked beyond words, and from the corner of his eye, he could see Suga with the same shocked, gaping expression. "I, uhh- Tada-" Frustrated with the words that escaped him, he ran a hand over his face and threw a pointed look at Tsukishima, whose expression was very neutral. "Tsukishima, I need to talk to you, please."

"Sure," the blond shrugged, turning to look at his friend, who was untangling an oxygen tube. "Oi, Tadashi."

"Tsukki?" the dark-haired teen replied, looking up.

"Do your best. Don't forget, I'm right next door," he mumbled, probably confusing the heck out of Daichi and Suga. However, the soft smile that flitted across Noya's, Kenma's, and Yamaguchi's faces hinted that the words were incredibly important.

"I know," Yamaguchi nodded, and then turned to his work as Tsukishima followed Daichi out, closing the door behind him.

"I, uhh... I see you're talking again," Suga finally approached his kouhai, taking the hint and opening up a regular oxygen mask, handing it to Yamaguchi so it could be connected to the tubing. "I'm glad."

"I guess I just didn't have anything to say until now," Yamaguchi shrugged after a bit of hesitation on his words. "Tsukki and Noya-senpai helped me find my words again." Turning to the oxygen tank, he hesitantly fiddled around with it for a second, unsure how to work it.

Suddenly, there were hands on top of his, warm and comforting, squeezing just enough to make him feel safe. Yamaguchi looked up into Suga's kind, bright eyes, and looked like he was on the verge of tears once more.

"I'm so happy you're getting better," Suga whispered out, gently pushing his hands away from the tank to turn it on. The whistling of air became audible, and Yamaguchi briefly tested out the mask on his own face before nodding.

"Yeah." Standing up, he turned to Kuroo, and set the mask over his mouth and nose, looping the elastic behind his ear. He adjusted the nose strap, and then watched Kuroo take a few breaths before turning back to Suga. "Now. Down to business. His blood pressure went down to 76/52, heart beating 134 times a minute, breathing 48 times a minute. He feels cold and clammy, too, though his temperature went down to 36.8 Celsius. What was your plan for him?"

"I was thinking intravenous Ringer's Lactate until his blood pressure is acceptable again. He's third-spacing a lot of fluid, which is why the saline you gave him earlier didn't do much. Second priority is wound care, so I was thinking of checking the sutures? I'm just hoping they haven't gotten infected, it was a really really bad job done in really bad conditions, after all..."

"We'll see when we get there," Yamaguchi nodded. "And for follow-up? He'll be very weak and might not even regain consciousness right after his blood pressure goes up. Were you thinking of catheterization and nasogastric tubing?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be super important to keep a track of how much fluid he's retaining and how much he's excreting," Suga nodded. "And he'll need a lot of energy so I was thinking diluted mashed up food until he can eat by himself."

"It'll clog the tube, though," Yamaguchi clicked his tongue, grabbing a new set of IV tubing and a bag of Ringer's Lactate.

"We'll just flush it a lot, I guess, and hope for the best," Suga gave him a tired smile, and then grabbed a syringe and a bottle of saline solution. Opening it up, he drew up some of it in the syringe, and grabbed some chlorehexidine swabs. "Anyway. Let's immediately get him hooked to the RL and see how he does."

"Well, I hope." There was a small silence, and then Yamaguchi sighed, beginning to prime the tube. "I mean... he has to. He can't die."

"He won't," Kenma finally added into the conversation, reminding them all of his presence.

"Ah, Kenma, if you want, you can sit on the other side with him, if you like. He might be asleep, or semi-conscious, but he can still hear you if you want to talk to him," Suga kindly informed him, flushing Kuroo's IV and wearing gloves to twist in the new line that Yamaguchi had primed.

Kenma nodded and wordlessly went to sit on the bed next to Kuroo, and nobody mentioned how he subtly slid his hand to the side of his head to brush a piece of unruly hair behind his ear.

And despite just standing there, Noya no longer felt like he was useless. Instead, he was incredibly proud to have been of help to the brave lot of teenagers fighting with all they had. The world did not revolve around him; he knew that he couldn't be a necessity to every single situation. However, if he was a necessity to any situation at all, he'd be happy with that, and never again underestimate his contributions.

"Noya, Yamaguchi and I are going to wear sterile gloves in a little bit, so if you could, would you mind holding that book on the floor for us, in case we need something?" Suga directed, and Noya nodded, his steps light as he picked up the pocket handbook of medical-surgical nursing.

"Just ask, and I'll be there whenever you need me," he grinned, standing proudly next to the bustling players, knowing that every single one of his actions was a necessity to Kuroo's survival.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...

Nishinoya had been a sort of a runner between the inside of the master bedroom and the outside, helping Suga and Yamaguchi do their medical things and then carrying news of progress out to the people sitting in the hallway or sleeping in the rooms on the second floor.

The other party had gotten lucky with water stocks, having found a few gallons of water in the homes with water dispensers, and having rolled the large gallons all the way back to their hideout. Thanks to that, they'd all had enough water to give themselves a quick wash in the tub, but despite looking cleaner than usual, none of them looked any less tired and haggard.

Every single time Noya came out to give a progress report on what was happening inside the room, only silence greeted him.

It probably seemed like the two improvised medics took hours inside the room to finish up, but when Noya came out one last time to announce that Kuroo was stable, Daichi's watch only showed that just over 90 minutes had passed.

There was a collective cheer in the hallway as finally, _finally,_ the crowd reacted to the news, swarming around Noya to ask for more information.

"Suga and Yamaguchi can probably give you more details than I can," Noya insisted, knowing to recognize the limits of his usefulness with a sheepish grin. "They said that you can go in to see Kuroo two at a time. Suga and Yamaguchi are gonna take turns watching him, so Suga's gonna go sleep first, for now. Kenma's asleep next to Kuroo, Yamaguchi's begun to talk again, and everybody-" His breath hitched in emotion. "Everybody's gonna be okay."

All of them sighed and began deciding who'd go in first, and Noya took the opportunity to slip away, towards the back of the hallway.

"Noya," Daichi suddenly called him back, and all eyes were on him when he turned to answer.

"Yeah?" he asked, kind of intimidated by the stares.

"Are _you_ holding up okay?" the captain asked, never missing a beat, never forgetting about any of his precious friends. And the libero's eyes burned with emotion and exhaustion when a large, genuine grin split his face.

"Better than ever," he announced with a small, almost hysterically relieved laugh, knowing that he'd only need sleep, a shower, and some food at this point to get back to normal again now.

However, a thought crossed his mind for a moment, dark hair fluttering in his mind's eye as he blinked, and suddenly, there was a whole new kind of apprehension welling up inside of him.

"Hey, captain?" he called, grabbing Daichi's attention again. "Can we talk?"

"What's up?" Daichi frowned, immediately concerned.

"Let's go in the room here. Coach, you come, too," Noya addressed the older man, who nodded, and followed the two teens into the nearby bedroom, to which they closed the door.

"Did something happen you didn't want others to know about?" Keishin asked first as Noya sat down on the bed with a tired sigh, to Daichi's visible concern.

"Are you hurt?" the captain asked in a tight voice, as if afraid of the answer.

"No, no, I'm fine! Just tired," Noya shook his head and then bit his lip. "No it's just... There was this girl. We met her on the way back from the hospital."

"A girl? In the town?" the coach frowned. "That's odd... Was she hostile?"

"Not at all. On the contrary, she was really, really nice and warm to us. She even gave us a few cans of food, but I wanted to mention them to you before we did anything with them."

"We'll take a look at them later," Daichi nodded, throwing his coach a side glance for confirmation. "What did she ask in return?"

"Nothing. We just mentioned that we were in a hurry to get back to a sick friend, and she got really concerned and gave us cans of food and wished us well. It was... weird," Noya sighed, not knowing how to describe the unpleasant mix of gratitude and suspicion, and the occasional pang of nostalgia, that gripped his thoughts every time he thought of long black hair.

"Okay... It's good you didn't trust her. We never know what her motives could've been," Daichi sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Well, I mean... She did tell us about the society they've started to rebuild in the town," Noya reported unsurely, watching as surprise, then fear, then determination, and finally, impassiveness flashed across his captain's and coach's faces. "She said that a bunch of people escaping from Tokyo have begun rebuilding a semi-nomadic society, going from town to town and gathering survivors to be stronger in numbers as they head for Hokkaido. She said they have food, safe houses, blankets, showers, maybe even electricity... They probably have a doctor, too..."

"Absolutely not," Daichi cut in. "Last time we trusted another group of humans, we almost got killed. We're not repeating the same mistake."

"But they're not a governmental organization," Noya argued. "They're just people, like us! The girl, Yukiko, she said they even have small businesses organized, that everyone's nice and helpful, and that we're welcome there if we need anything at all."

"Of course she'd say that, Yuu," Ukai sighed, putting a hand on his head to kill the headache sprouting in his brain. "If they want something from us, of course they'd look good to manipulate us into their hands."

"But what if it's for real this time?" Noya asked, throat scratchy. He clenched his fists as a strange kind of disappointment welled up inside of him. "What if this is finally someplace where we can be safe?"

"We don't know that."

"I'm tired of running." And Noya realized that it wasn't disappointment he felt, but emptiness. Emptiness, and a whole lot of sadness to try and fill the gap. He'd given up. "I don't want to be afraid anymore." His throat was tight, and he realized that there were tears hanging off his eyelashes. And he couldn't bring himself to care. It didn't matter anymore. "Why is all of this happening to us? Why can't we be happy?"

"Noya..." Daichi seemed to recoil, as if in pain, and shut his eyes like looking at his friend would kill him. "I... I'm sorry..."

"Please, captain!" the libero continued in a wavering voice, one tear sliding down the side of his face as he looked at the teen in question, begging, pleading to be looked at, to be acknowledged, but Daichi just looked away. "We can't do this anymore! The nightmares, the hunger, the insecurity of not knowing something as simple as whether or not we'll live to see the morning light, and the terror of being alive to see it... It's too much." One more tear, and then another, and then another, until Noya's face was wet with tears that he did not seem to care about.

"Yuu..." Keishin began, approaching him, but the teen in question just flinched, as if he was afraid. The older man immediately stopped in his tracks, a pained expression on his face. "Yuu, don't say that... We're all here and together..."

"It won't matter when we're dead!" Noya protested tearfully. "Please, coach! Please, please don't make us do this anymore. Please stop pretending that we're okay. How the hell could we be okay!? I just led three other kids my age and younger through an abandoned building filled with rotting corpses piled up to our knees, all to find equipment that would help two high school students perform quasi-surgery on a friend who'd been dying after being shot by a genocidal organization. I had to stand there and listen to Yamaguchi cry because he'd hallucinated Tsukishima's face on one of those corpses. I had to pretend I didn't hear Kenma sobbing when Kuroo suddenly stopped breathing for a while earlier. Before, I had to abandon two kids I promised to protect in a death trap and pray they wouldn't be agonizing in a slow and torturous death by the time I came back for them. There is nothing normal with any of this, so why...?"

Noya looked up, but whilst Daichi looked guilty, Ukai just looked at him in pity. And Noya, who would've bristled at receiving pity before, now had no idea how to feel about it. So he put his face in his hands and hunched over, as if finally letting the weight of the world crush him.

"Why can't we just be happy...?"

"Yuu..." And suddenly, there were arms around him, and Noya felt guilty for indulging in the tight embrace that drew him out of his cocoon of pain and hopelessness, into the strong and comforting arms of the only adult he had left in his life.

"Coach, I-"

"Listen to me, okay, Yuu? This is important," Keishin interrupted him, unusually subdued, even in his seriousness. Noya wiped his eyes and looked up, aware that he probably looked pathetic. "I know you guys have been through a lot, and I know it hasn't been easy. None of you should've been forced to live like this. It's been so hard, and you've all been strong for so long, and I'm so proud of you all for having stuck together so far. But we have to keep pushing. We can't give up now, more than ever."

"I wish we could all just either be safe or die... It's so hard to keep fighting like this..." The libero's eyes glanced down at the floor, as if he was ashamed of his muttered confession.

"Noya, you're not a quitter," Ukai insisted softly, but firmly. "You're a fighter, you've always been, and I know you're going to keep fighting. Giving up just isn't something you have in that thick skull of yours."

"Then how come it feels like we've already lost?"

"Because you're letting yourself be defeated." His coach let him go, distancing himself a bit to be able to talk at eye-level with him. "You're so strong, Noya, taking care of your kouhai and helping your senpai all the time. But Daichi knows how much you're hurting. You don't have to tell him, he knows how miserable you all are, because he is just as miserable. But he's being strong for you all, because you're his team and his responsibility. Don't you think that as a senpai, you should be strong for your team and your charges as well?"

Noya hesitated a second and then nodded his head, wiping his eyes dry. Lifting his face, he glanced to the side, at Daichi, just a second too late to miss the telltale swipe of his hands under his eyes. When the captain looked at him, silent through gritted teeth. Noya saw his reddened and puffy eyes and the guilt reflected in his bloodshot sclera, and was immediately overcome by guilt as well.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just... I'm tired."

"We all are, but once we make it out of danger, and find ourselves truly safe, we'll think back of all the moments where we were tempted to give up but didn't, and we'll be glad that we kept fighting." Ukai flashed him a half-hearted grin. "Karasuno doesn't give up, remember?"

With one last glance at his broken-hearted captain, Noya nodded, and carefully slid off the bed, to his feet.

"I'm sorry for bothering you. I don't know what came over me," he mumbled.

"Don't apologize for letting out your stress. There's nothing wrong with that," Ukai corrected him gently.

"I didn't mean to complain, in any case. Daichi has been incredible so far, and it was wrong of me to make light of all his work and sacrifices."

"It's fine," the dark-haired teen grunted, nervously wringing his hands as if he still were on the verge of tears. Noya didn't know that for sure. Maybe he was.

He felt terrible for upsetting their precious captain and leader.

"I'm gonna... go see if Yamaguchi is okay. And then Hinata; he was really upset that Kenma was upset. I've got to talk to Tsukishima about something, as well. And I'll go make sure Kageyama ate his lunch instead of sneaking it to Hinata again," he volunteered, heading for the door.

"Hey, Yuu," Keishin called again, and the teen's hand froze on the knob as he turned it. "You're really, really strong. And you're a good guy. Don't give up."

"I won't," Nishinoya mumbled, opening the door. "Not when people still need me."

Because his kouhai needed him to support them. And his senpai needed him to help them take care of everything. Nishinoya had finally found a purpose, although he regretted the context.

However, he kept at it. When, later on, Yamaguchi accidentally fell asleep leaning on his shoulder, by Kuroo's bedside, he didn't move nor wake him up, because even if they were all miserable and broken, whatever remaining strength he had left was still a necessity to their futile survival efforts.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**For once, the chapter's ending isn't uplifting. Variety is important, after all. **

**There is so much medical stuff in this chapter, I could explain it all but it's 1:30AM and I've got to wake up at 7AM to go play with kids in a daycare, so I won't. Anyway, it wasn't meant to be understood, it's just background blablabla that adds to character development. However, despite the vagueness of their interventions, let me assure you that Suga and Yamaguchi did several things wrong, several things that amateurs would do and that would compromise patient care. Cause they ain't perfect. Also, pocket handbooks of medical-surgical nursing are literally life, bless them for existing. **

**Yo, if there are any med students in the house, I have a few questions for you about the realisticness of Kuroo's hypovolemia and the possible treatment. My Med/Surg textbook can only do so much, after all. Please hit me up!**

**I personally like that at the beginning, Noya felt useless and mentioned not wanting comfort because he didn't deserve it, but at the end, he just lets himself be held. I love my tiny baby crow so much. **

**Next chapter, Kuroo finally wakes up. Or does he? Jk, of course he wakes up. In what state, though? And how does this affect his friends, who have to take care of him? And how does this affect him, knowing that his state is the cause for having gotten all of them stuck in trouble again? And then, old nightmares return... Just what happened to Kuroo in Tokyo?**

**Wow I sound like a bad announcer or something yeah I'm tired how about bye. **

**Please review, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on the matter! Thank you guys, ilu all~**


End file.
